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I often heard that New York is the city that never sleeps due to all the things going on there and the incredible amount of people visiting it both during the day and night.

Either way, Romania has proven many times that it has a bit of everything you can find in other countries or continents out there, so I think it does the same when it comes to speaking about a city that never sleeps.

Obviously, the most correct affirmation would be that Sibiu never sleeps...during the summer. While it's pretty crowded with tourists all year long, there is a specific energy and vibe that is so different during the summer than the rest of the year speaking about countless festivals held in town more at the same time which makes the numbers of visitors break new records every year.

One of those festivals that have a big impact both in town and around the world, is Sibiu International Theatre Festival shortly known as FITS which even though it began as a local festival being already at its 30th edition, it made it become one of the most known theatre festivals in the world.

Happily, things weren't limited just to theatre but to a lot more shows remembering about concerts, acrobatics, futuristic installations, exhibitions, dances and even more. Being a festival that lasts 10 days, makes it hard to capture all the moments in a single post, so I divided this experience in more parts, today writing the 3rd part of it. But if you want to check out the rest of it, make sure to go all the way down to this post where you will find the previous editions both from 2023 and 2022.

15. Pigs

The show I'd like to begin this edition with, is represented by a Spanish team which made a great reproduction of the fable "The Three Little Pigs" taking advantage of the costumes and main characters of the story but bringing it to some more modern times where the pigs are grown up now and walk down the streets.

Being needed to walk down the streets and look for a new house, the moment came with a lot of movement as well as dancing, making jokes with those surrounding them, laughing at the wolf that tried to chase them but got lost in the crowd where he used his magic tool on the audience.

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While most of the shows part of FITS are walk-act shows due to all the people filling the streets of the city, their show was a bit predictable hence why I only attended just a part of it while letting parents along with their children stick closer to the actors. But everything I've seen during their representation was nicely done and stole a lot of smiles from me.

Duration: 45 min
Premiere date: 20.12.2019
Original name: Pigs

16. The Miracle of the Street

The upcoming show was another walk-act with two creatures coming from the deepest sides of a forest that try to prove through their show that no place is dark enough not to be caught by light and colours.

So based on this idea they dance and share a lot of styles of creating bubble balloons of more sizes that make the streets of Sibiu be almost lost entirely in these little bubbles.

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However, attending their show felt a bit too similar to the The Bubble Dreamer from the first part and day of FITS which even though it didn't involve any movement at all, still followed a similar theme and style.

That being said, I did feel my inner kid smile again while trying to catch balloons with my hands, but didn't make me follow their entire show closely.

Duration: 45 min
Premiere date: 03.03.2023
Original name: WonderWalks

17. Mobile container with robotic structure for 3D printing

With the time we earned by not attending the whole previous show, we took advantage of checking out some installations placed nearby that even if they were there for a few days of the festival, we really couldn't see them sooner due to all the shows that made us stay away from breaks.

The container represents a giant robotic structure whose activity is 3D printing and it was brought straight from the UK.

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For me, it's been the first time staying so close to a robot and 3D infrastructure as well, especially of this size. We have all heard of 3D prints that more or less people can afford to have at home and play with while reproducing different figures, statues, or other ideas. But the one part of FITS was definitely on a different level.

Duration: 8 hours
Premiere date: 23.06.2023
Original name: Mobile container with robotic structure for 3D printing

18. ALTOSTRATA - The Therme Pavilion

Some of the pieces that resulted from the 3D printing activity made it into building up an entire pavilion placed right in front of the robot.

The material used is biodegradable sugar-based PLA and it was the best way someone could teach others that we can have a beautiful and futuristic world even from recycled plastic or that of a different quality in comparison with the plastic used in general which sooner or later ends up polluting waters, forests, mountains and what not.

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Along with fun, smiles, laughter and all the emotions I got to feel from the rest of the shows, this one felt different for sure. Especially during this crazy period of being alive when people seem madder and things are out of control.

Duration: 24/7
Premiere date: 23.06.2023
Original name: ALTOSTRATA - The Therme Pavilion

19. The Accordionists

The ones that brought us back to reality and with our feet on the ground, were the French Band of accordionists who started a show right in front of a jewellery shop without asking for lots of audience or a landmark of the city.

Their music echoed powerfully and felt enough to hear them from the distance and make your way closer for lots of cool vibes and good music.

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The representation along with choreographies went from standard accordion music all the way to rock and some other genres, such as becoming suitable for all ages and types of audience. But along with all those aspects, Romania is well known for being a great fan of accordion so I bet the audience felt their show a lot closer to the heart than it would normally happen in other parts of the globe.

Duration: 50 min
Premiere date: 01.01.2018
Original name: Ça Va Valser

20. Rhythmic Colors

Following a similar note the next show started mixing more elements along with music and choreographies, such as acrobatics, large colourful wheels and fire.

The electronic music was built in real-time by a DJ part of the team who led tens of teammates either to do acrobatics or dance along with the nine wheels that were larger and larger (between 2 and 7 meters in height), also becoming a challenge to make it through the crowd that was a lot bigger being evening already.

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For me, it's been another first as I've never taken part in a psychedelic show with pyrotechnic effects and I absolutely loved all the chaos created back in that night when we all felt like becoming part of a different world for a couple of minutes.

Duration: 1h 30min
Premiere date: 28.08.2018
Original name: Color Wheels

21. Light Wonder – In the Land of My Childhood

And last but not least, we had one more show to check out before following all the way home and calling it another full day with lots of variety among the shows, emotions and moods we felt both during the day and night.

Actually, we've seen the labyrinth born one day before being officially open for the audience, which represents an element that was also part of the previous edition of FITS from 2022 but where the story and design overall were different.

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Having "miracle" as the main theme of 2023's edition of FITS came with a free hand of work for the children who know the best what a miracle actually means. That's how an entire school of local children set up the idea of the maze of lights from 2023 which represented a world full of miracles, full of longing, full of love, but also full of loss.

Unfortunately, neither in 2022 nor in 2023 we didn't actually become part of the maze as it was taking quite a while to complete it and that would end up in missing other shows part of the festival, but it was amazing checking it out for a while even just from the edge.

Duration: 1h 15 min
Premiere date: 10.03.2023
Original name: STERNENZEIT – Im Land meiner Kindheit

This post represents the 3rd part of FITS 2023 and the events and shows I managed to attend on the 3rd day of the festival. There are a few more parts coming up in the following period as the festival lasts for 10 days in total. But until they are all set up and posted, you can check down below the past editions of FITS.

FITS 2023 posts:

FITS 2022 posts:

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additonally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (260+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 550+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

~ @GabrielaTravels ~