Drama’s Dr Pablo Pakula has hosted a performance and live art residency in Galera, Spain.
![Pablo Pakula](/Images/College-ArtsLaw-only/drama/news/2019/galera1.xdd9dd2dd.jpg?q=80&f=webp&w=1440)
Under the title Stomping Ground!, this first edition of the residency hosted eight live artists and performance makers, hailing from Australia, Cuba, Germany/Spain, Ireland, Jamaica, Portugal, Peru, and the UK. It took place between 2-8 September 2019. During their stay, the selected artists were hosted in Galera's idiosyncratic cave-houses, shared work with each other and with the locals. As well as offering a unique opportunity for the artists' development, Stomping Ground! creatively revolutionised this sleepy yet stunning Andalusian village.
![Writing in chalk on the floor](/Images/College-ArtsLaw-only/drama/news/2019/galera2.x828e601e.jpg?q=80&f=webp&w=1440)
![Participation with wool](/Images/College-ArtsLaw-only/drama/news/2019/galera3.x3b71bdc4.jpg?q=80&f=webp&w=1440)
Stomping Ground! is aimed at those hungry for new experiences, discovering new stimuli, sharing ways of working, and cross-pollinating with fellow artists. The creative interests of this year's participants were as varied as their nationalities: darkness as a concept, voice as a cleansing tool/instrument, the mythology of different cultures, the preservation of natural spaces, drag culture, the figure of the healer-woman, the symbolic language of objects, or words that do not have a translation into English.
The residency has been featured in the Spanish press and media:
- live radio interview with Cadena SER Granada. (skip forward to 1:06:10)
- Ideal
![A performer in drag](/Images/College-ArtsLaw-only/drama/news/2019/galera4.xa2d09c81.jpg?q=80&f=webp&w=1440)
Pablo Pakula is a practice-based scholar in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham. He specialises in practical teaching theatre and performance. Besides being a university teacher and lecturer for over twelve years, he is performance-maker, live artist and event curator.
![Participants in a fountain](/Images/College-ArtsLaw-only/drama/news/2019/galera5.x661ab903.jpg?q=80&f=webp&w=1440)
Image 1 - by Barbara Miyares Bravo
Images 2, 3, 4 and 5 - by Reme Domingo de Leonés