Ibero-American Theater Festival of Bogotá

Last updated on January 23rd, 2021 at 02:31 pm

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Ibero-American Theater Festival of Bogotá

For almost 30 years, one of the largest theater festivals in the world has surprised and delighted us with presentations by theater companies and artists from five continents. And not only can we enjoy the talent of theater plays from around the world, but we are also delighted with the presentations of storytellers, circus, classical dance, international concerts, children’s and youth theater and street theater among others.

The Ibero-American Theater Festival is a very diverse festival that brings various performing arts together and its best exponents in the city of Bogotá for about two weeks every two years. It all started in 1988 from March 25 to April 3, on the occasion of the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the foundation of the Bogota.

The festival’s initiators, Ramiro Osorio and Fanny Mickey, held the first festival with the slogan, “An act of faith in Colombia”, and its main objective was the artistic integration of Latin American countries.

This objective has been fulfilled and overcome through the 15 festivals that have taken place so far. Major theater companies have been part of the festival, such as the Stary Teatr of Krakow with “Crime and Punishment”, The Moscow Satyric Theater with “The Maids”, The Peking Opera with “The King Momo”, the Australian company Handspan Theater with the play “Four little girls”, African Ballets of Guinea, the Vertigo Theater of Brazil, the Royal Shakespeare Company of England, the Dutch company Close-Act Theater and many more of great importance in the performing arts worldwide.

The most recent festival had invited 32 countries, making an impressive opening in the Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park (the largest park in Bogota, with 113 hectares) in the hands of the theater company La Fura del Baus, created in 1979 in Barcelona, Spain, with his work “The Judgment of Paris”, accompanied by a pyrotechnic demonstration.

In the latest production, we counted over 100 directors, 3650 actors, 32 invited countries, 164 works, 63 stages and 108 streets intervened in the city. It is because of this great capacity of convocation and number of presentations that this festival is classified as the largest performing arts festival in the world.

We look forward to the upcoming festival from March 16th to April 1st 2018. This great event will cover the city streets with art and activities for all ages. The colors, the music and the artistic expressions will last for a couple of weeks and be the main attraction for Bogotanos and visitors from all over the world.

We are happy to help you visit this theater festival. As a travel specialist for Colombia based in Bogota, help is only an email away. What else there is to experience in Bogota can be found in our Bogota travel guide. You can find even more ideas for a longer trip to Colombia in our Colombia travel guide.