- The group, which this year has more than a hundred members, was established in 2002, but was re-established in 2010 after a period of inactivity
- The members of Emboirats include students, teaching and research staff and administrative and services staff, who make up a “small big gang”
Ten years ago, they were inspired by the fog ("boira" in Catalan) which covers the Plana de Vic region and the university which they belong to for the name they have today: the UVic Emboirats. This is the largest association at UVic-UCC, as its numbers exceed 120 people when it organises events at the University. It was created in 2002, but the limited number of student members led to the group's demise until it was re-established in 2010. Ten years have passed since then: with 800 people, 6 management committees, 7 technical committees, around 80 events, and a hundred annual rehearsals are just some of the figures that have defined this decade.
Ten years on, the group still remains true to its spirit of being a "small big gang." This concept, which has been passed down from year to year, is linked to being a group at a small university which had just a few members when it began. Both the University and the number of members of the group have grown every year, but they have always maintained the same family spirit. The only requirement to join the group is the desire to help make the project grow, and of course, it is necessary to be a member of the UVic university community or to be studying a higher education course in the Osona region.
Ten years on, Emboirats is still a "small big gang," a concept that has been passed on from year to year
This year's leaders of the group, David Cortina and Elena Sánchez, joined five and seven years ago respectively. "When I joined, I came from Sants in Barcelona, and I asked the president when we would do seven-storey towers. He didn't know what to say," says Sanchez. Today, having built seven-storey towers with 3 and 4 people in each level several times, "our goals have changed, but the sensations are increasingly intense."
Meanwhile, Cortina is sad at the thought of having to leave: "being a casteller at the university has a time limit, and you often think about continuing your studies so you can stay involved." They say that administering the two committees - the management committee and the technical committee - can be a difficult task: "you work with a lot of people and you have a lot of responsibility, but it's fantastic when you see the huddle before the event."
A group free of stereotypes
Emboirats is made up of many people who are all very different. "You don't have to fit a template. We always find a place for everyone, no matter who they are, and we firmly believe that both men and women play the same role, in terms of equality and with no gender differences of any kind," says Helena Teixidor, who has been the president of the group since last September. "In addition to learning how to manage the group, representing such a large group teaches you how to manage your own feelings," she admits.
«You don't have to fit a template. We always find a place for everyone here»
The members of Emboirats are divided into various sections, and the group does not overlook people who used to be members. The current members of Emboirats attend the rehearsals, events and activities organised by the group; the Veterans are those who have been in the group for more than four years, and the DesUVicats are people who are no longer take part in the group, and are both Veterans and others. Finally, the Savis are the members who re-established the group in 2010.
The group has experienced many memorable moments throughout this-ten year history, but there are two highlights that everyone mentions as being the most significant: building the 4 of 7 tower at the spring event on the Miramarges campus in 2017, where a plaque was unveiled two years ago to commemorate the achievement; and the huddle that always happens before the event starts, when the group leaders explain what will happen and everybody shouts the group's name at both the start and at the end. "It's quite common to have goosebumps and feel your eyes filling with tears; they're very special moments," says the leader of the group.
The huddle before each event is crucial: «It's quite common to have goosebumps and feel your eyes filling with tears»
A future full of goals and challenges
The commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the re-establishment of Emboirats meant that the group "went back to its beginnings." "We have grown very quickly, but we still have challenges to overcome," says Teixidor. In fact, its members believe that the group's future is full of goals to be achieved. One of the most eagerly anticipated by the group as a whole is to create the five-storey "pilar de cinc" tower that they created for the first time in the 2014 season, and hope to repeat in the near future.
Meanwhile, like all university groups, one of the major handicaps of Emboirats is its constant turnover of members, as numbers are never stable and those involved change every academic year. "When you complete your university studies you have to leave, unless you complete your bachelor's degree with another course, which means you can stay in the group," says Cortina. "That means that we can never be completely sure about the number of people we will have for the following season." As there are no children in the group's ranks, the other challenge is to find a suitable person who can act as the “enxaneta”, who crowns the top storey of the tower after it has been built.
The group has organised several celebratory events for the 2019-2020 academic year. The main event took place in the Plaça Major in Vic on 7 March, when the group was accompanied by the Sagals de Osona and the Xoriguers of the University of Girona (UdG). "We had to invite both of those groups: the Sagals have always helped us out with whatever we needed, and the Xoriguers is our sponsor," explains the president of Emboirats.
At the anniversary commemoration, Emboirats started with a four-storey "pilar de 4" tower, followed by a "4 de 6", a "3 de 6 amb agulla" and a "4 de 6 amb agulla", with the latter created by the DesUVicats. They finished with 10 "pilar de 4" towers - one for each year of the group's history.