International Team Sport to Make World Record-Setting New York City Debut

NEW YORK, June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the world's most unusual and spectacular team endeavors - the Spanish region of Catalonia's 300-year-old tradition of building multi-storey human towers called castells - will make its New York City debut on Wednesday, June 20 at 230 FIFTH Rooftop Bar & Penthouse Lounge, when the 150-member Castellers de Vilafranca will attempt a new world record by building the first eight-level castell ever assembled on a rooftop. No ladders, cranes or nets involved. The performance, which will also include the building of several smaller towers on 230 FIFTH's palm-punctuated roof deck, will inaugurate a series of free public castell buildings throughout New York City from June 20 to 24 in honor of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center complex. Each tower will be an exercise in concentration, strength and balance as the barefooted participants form successively smaller tiers - resembling a human wedding cake - by climbing up the bodies of each layer to mount the shoulders of the previous tier until the tower is topped a by single nine-year-old child. An almost balletic, decidedly athletic and heart-stopping feat orchestrated to the melodies of a quartet playing Catalonian music.

The series of performances will be the first by any castell team in New York City and only the second time a team has appeared anywhere in the United States. The Castellers de Vilafranca, considered Spain's best, have been planning for years to build in the Big Apple as a means of introducing to the U.S. the activity UNESCO has recognized as among the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Their trip coincides with an official visit by President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas.

The Castellers de Vilfranca will perform in Central Park and Battery Park for the Make Music NY Festival on June 21. They will also build at the United Nations on June 22 and are scheduling other venues in the city including Times Square and Brooklyn Bridge. In addition, the team will participate in the presentation of the documentary about their passion as practiced in Catalonia, Chile and India on June 22 at Goldcrest Studios Theater in the West Village. The Human Tower is directed by Ram Devineni and Cano Rojas and distributed by Goldcrest. 

The record-breaking roof building of a human tower by the Castellers de Vilfranca at 230 FIFTH will take place at 8:15 p.m. on June 20, with several different towers created by the team between 8:20 and 10. Like all of the team's performances in New York City, the event will be free and open. 230 FIFTH is located at 230 Fifth Avenue at the corner of 27th Street, (212) 725-4300, http://www.230-fifth.com. The rooftop event is supported by Barcelona's Estrella Damm Beer.

For Castellers de Vilfranca's full schedule and screening dates for The Human Tower, visit http://www.thehumantower.com.

Media Contacts:         

Castellers de Vilafranca / The Human Tower  
Ram Devineni, [email protected]                                    
(646) 416-4702

230 FIFTH
Shelley Clark, [email protected]
(646) 489-8582          

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SOURCE Castellers de Vilfranca