TOPIC has welcomed 2016 with a creation residency by the group The Winged Cranes. Two from Madrid and one from Asturias are the members of this company that has its roots in English lands. “We started in London in 2008, where the ideology of what the company would be was forged; After a couple of years I returned to Spain – says the founder of the group, Alejandra Prieto – with a creation-production scholarship from the Caja Laboral de Gijón and that was when I met the rest of the members of the group, Mari Cruz and Irene”.

This trio of women perfectly combines puppets and dance numbers in their shows, accompanied by video projections. “We define ourselves as stage creators as well as puppeteers; Puppets are at the center of our proposals and from there they radiate to other languages,” explains Mari Cruz Planchuelo.

None of them knew about TOPIC or its creation residencies. It was in India, at the Ishara Puppet Festival, where its director told them about the Center. “He put us in contact with Idoya Otegui and here we showed up to apply for residency and see the Center which, by the way, has excited us”.

The work they are creating at TOPIC will be titled “Le fanteuil” and tells of the rise to power of a middle-aged woman. After their work at TOPIC, in the month of February, they will move to another creative residence at the Conde Duque cultural center in Madrid and they do not rule out returning to Tolosa to finish the show. “We hope to release the work by May, although we are in no rush; “We like to work on time without setting a deadline”.

Winged Cranes is a company that dedicates special attention in its creations “to all those groups and themes to which today’s society does not give sufficient attention or value and yet they hold so much information about our essence as human beings. Among these groups are women, regular protagonists of our shows”.

They usually work with different languages: “Bunraku puppets, dance and the body of the performer-actor-manipulator are at the center of our creations that seek to open the scenic event to the multidisciplinary and multicultural reality in which we live. “We want and need to talk about what matters to us.”

The company has premiered the productions ‘Ifigenia peep show’, ‘The absent body’ and ‘Bernarda’s backstage’.