In What Moves Us? Identity, Movement, and Space, we invite students to co-create a space to explore and express identity through the body and visual art. Movement becomes a tool for self-discovery and spatial transformation, turning environments into dynamic stages where participants interact with their own creations. Dance is combined with the creation of installations that amplify personal experiences, forming a multidisciplinary space where body, art, and space become tools for reflection, empowerment, and connection. Through this proposal, young people not only explore their identities but also their capacity to transform and reclaim spaces through art.
Maria Ferrer – Performer and Creator:
“I have always considered movement and dance as my first language—the place from which I could connect more deeply with myself and with others. I believe in dance as a space of freedom, activism, and expression; as an experience that allows us to explore the endless possibilities of our multiple and diverse bodies. An experience that connects us socially, historically, and emotionally.”
A graduate in dance from the Conservatori Professional de València, with further studies at The Place (UK), she also holds a degree in Pedagogy (University of Barcelona) and a postgraduate degree in Performing Arts and Social Action (Institut del Teatre). As a performer, her work focuses on the exploration of movement, rhythm, and improvisation, where the interplay between individuality and collectivity is key. Her experience with vernacular jazz music and dance has been essential in discovering new ways of understanding and living dance—especially in terms of rhythmic connection, community creation, and space for experimentation and improvisation. Through this practice, she seeks to establish meeting points between the diverse traditions that inform her body and enrich her movement.
She directs Moving!, a creative and welcoming dance project for newly arrived young people (Winner of Best Social Project, APdC 2024) and is an artist associated with the mediation, creation, and education programs of Caixa d’Eines, part of the Barcelona Neighbourhood Plan (Escola Santiago Rusiñol, El Graner Education Programmes) since 2021. In 2024, she was awarded the Social and Community Action Prize by the Institut del Teatre.
Maria Ferrer will lead What Moves Us? Identity, Movement, and Space weekly at Institut Domènech i Montaner (2nd year of ESO), together with teacher Ada Vázquez, throughout the 2024–25 academic year.
El Graner’s educational program is part of the Caixa d’Eines initiative, promoted by the Barcelona Neighbourhood Plan, which introduces artistic practices into the school curriculum with the aim of reducing inequalities between the city’s neighbourhoods. The mediation in this project is led by Mireia de Querol on behalf of El Graner.
