2022   La Gata Perduda   Performance   (Gran Teatre del Liceu)   Directed by Ricard Soler Mallol.   Produced by Gran Teatre del Liceu.  

La gata perduda presents a traditional tension in the world of opera between the high and the low, between power and the people. Power, symbolized by an ambitious and ostentatious magnate, wants to place the Raval under his control, an operatic Raval made up of a colossal choir of the neighborhood's residents. The libretto portrays a globalized world, where the consequences of a system driven by economic profit clearly and directly impact the population, the neighborhoods, and the lives of its citizens.

La gata perduda is the opera through which Raval enters the Liceu and through which the Liceu has had the opportunity to open up, to get to know and learn from a neighborhood it belongs to and that welcomes it. This initiative involves the participation of the neighbors of Barcelona’s most eclectic community: more than 40 nationalities within 1.1 km², and home to the highest density of associations in the European Union. Around 1,000 people, both individuals and organizations, have taken part directly or indirectly.

An artistic dialogue that has been enriching for both sides –artistic and community– and that aims to create a transformative experience for all the agents involved.

Opera in five acts with the participation of more than 400 citizens of the Raval. Premiered on October 5, 2022 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona:

2023 Serra d'Or d'Arts Scéniques critical prize

MAX 2022 Award for the best musical or lyrical show

Josep Anselm Clavé 2022 Award for Cant Choral in Catalonia for best show.

Prize for the Best Operatic Proposal of the 6th edition of Premis Teatre Barcelona

Extraordinary prize of the II Edition of the Musical Theater Awards 2023

Award for the "Best Initiative or Project that contributes to the diffusion of operatic activity" of the 6th edition of the National Opera XXI Opera Awards

Libretto: Victoria Szpunberg

Composition: Arnau Torpera

Musical direction: Alfons Reverté

Stage direction: Ricard Soler Mallol

Scenography: Adrià Pinar

Costume: Montse Amenós

Choreography direction: Tuixén Benet

Choreography: Anna Macau

Lighting: Cube.bz (María de la Cámara and Gabriel Paré)

Video creation: Miquel Àngel Raió

Chorus coordination: Cristina Colomer

Assistant stage director: Inés García

Production: Gran Teatre del Liceu

Cast

Magnate: Pau Armengol

Secretary: Joan Sáez

Architect: Rocío Martínez

Curator: Marta Infante

Detective: Albert Casals

Dancers: Jordi Calpe, Mario García, Raúl Lorenzo, Andrea Madrid, Sònia Prado, Maria Quero, Ariadna Saltó, Anna Serra, Anna Tejero

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Tuixén Benet

EDUCATION

Tuixén Benet is a choreographer, dance-film director, and educator based among Barcelona and Los Angeles, whose work moves fluidly between stage, screen, and pedagogy. Her practice explores choreography as a cinematic, social, and spatial language, engaging bodies, cameras, and collectives as co-authors of meaning. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Choreography and Interpretation Techniques from the Institut del Teatre of Barcelona (2013) and a Master of Fine Arts in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) (2020). Her training bridges contemporary dance, film direction, and visual storytelling, further expanded through specialized studies in video dance and body poetics in Spain and Mexico.

CHOREOGRAPHY FOR FILM

Tuixén Benet has maintained an extensive freelance career as a choreographer for music videos, fashion films, and commercials since 2010. Her choreography has been featured in productions shot across Spain, the United States, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Lebanon, Jamaica, Hungary, Romania, and Colombia, collaborating with internationally renowned artists such as Polo & Pan, Tame Impala, Phoenix, Juanes, Bomba Estéreo, Justice, Two Door Cinema Club, and Javiera Mena, among many others. She recently choreographed the film Romería by Carla Simón. Her work has been commissioned by leading production companies and global brands, resulting in a body of work that balances strong physicality with cinematic precision.

LIVE CHOREOGRAPHY

From 2010 to 2015, Tuixén Benet was the founder and co-director of the dance company Les filles Föllen, alongside Margherita Bergamo. Together, they created and performed stage and video works presented at major cultural institutions and festivals across Europe and North America, including MACBA, Mercat de les Flors, Matadero Madrid, Kumu (Tallinn), Le Lieu Unique (Nantes), Zebulon (New York), and Zoofest (Montreal). Their creations, such as Entrance With Charge, Unter der Schönen Haut, Escena Simultánea, and Projecte13, were recognized with multiple awards and grants, establishing the company as a significant voice in contemporary performance and experimental choreography.

Tuixén Benet has also choreographed large-scale live performances and tours, notably for El Guincho and for the international tours of Chilean artist Javiera Mena between 2014 and 2017. For Javiera Mena, she developed choreographic systems adaptable to different scales—from intimate stages to massive televised events—culminating in the 2016 Viña del Mar Festival performance, viewed by over 150 million people worldwide.

She’s also choreographed the opera La Gata Perduda at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, a participatory large-scale work involving over 3,500 community members. More recently, she directed the movement for the new experimental opera work by cabosanroque Mil Tres, Say Cheese that premiered in Teatre Lliure, Barcelona.

EXPERIMENTAL FILMMAKING

Tuixén Benet directs and choreographs dance-driven narrative works that investigate intimacy, ritual, collective movement, and the emotional architecture of bodies in space. Her films Lazarus, Aloma i Mila, and Solution for Sadness have been widely screened and awarded at international film and dance-film festivals, including Leeds International Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, BAFICI, Cinedans, Choreoscope, and many others. Her work has received numerous awards for choreography, cinematography, and contribution to the field of dance film, including a Flaherty Grant from CalArts and an Exceptional Contribution to Dance Film Award from Choreoscope. Her first feature-length dance film, Clausura, is currently in post-production.

TEACHING

From 2019 to 2024, Tuixén Benet has been a Dance and Film Special Faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts, teaching graduate and undergraduate students across disciplines. The courses include Dance Film Foundations, Dance Film Projects, When Screen Dances, Cinedance, Making Music Videos, and Film Production. Through these classes, she guided students from conceptual development to post-production, emphasizing visual design, embodied cinematography, interdisciplinary collaboration, and critical reflection on time, space, and performance in moving images. She has also served as a teaching assistant in film directing and as a guest instructor in cinedance and narrative film contexts. She is trained in experimental film techniques filming in cellulloid, hand processing and scanning.

FILM JURY

In addition to her artistic and academic practice, Tuixén Benet regularly serves as a jury member for international film and dance festivals such as Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastian, UK Music Video Awards, Dance Camera West, Choreoscope and Sicilia Queer Film Fest.