Disembody Inaudible Unusual: Our scenic art
Created by Valentina Rentería Coronado (Verá Art Co)
November 3, 2021, Mexico
As director and creative of this project, I can tell you that Disembody Inaudible Unusual is a stage work of contemporary dance, divided into three sections whose central axis is "masculinity", that concept understood as something variable, which can mutate and be understood from individual and collective levels and from various socio-cultural contexts.
It is essential to mention that this work was developed around the life and thought of the interpreter, Eder Arrasquito Barrios. It was important to create a work and an experience from the understanding and personal development of the artist; in order to thus create an honest performance and work.
The Movement
Something that is very characteristic of the work is hybridization, a characteristic that we usually recognize in contemporary art. We no longer see technique, disciplines or other areas as closed systems, but we use knowledge and / or notions of different areas, to achieve a common goal, in order to intersect processes. In this case, break dance, modern dance, capoeira, tricking, jazz dance, performance, music, improvisation, design, lighting, color and many other components integrate this work.
The creative process was completely related to dramaturgical work. As before mentioned, the work is divided into three sections, each one of them has different concepts and environments, which I intend to share with you.
The sections
Section I. Disembody.
Etymological definition:
Lacking body, volume, or consistency.
Theme:
Superficialities that cover different spheres of the masculine, referring to certain actions or attitudes that men “must” have with and for their body.
Generating questions:
How do I present myself to society? How do I want to show myself to society?
Resource:
Use of clothing, as a material object that is related to the body in a tangible and visual way.
Section II. Inaudible
Etymological definition:
That it is confusingly heard, very little or that it is not heard.
Theme:
The emotional repression that masculinity has and the lack of emotional resources that men have to focus and assertively express their feelings / states.
Generating question:
How has culture shaped my feelings and its demonstrations?
Resource:
Use of onions, as a metaphorical material, object that alludes to crying, an emotional peak.
Section III. Unusual
Etymological definition:
That is uncommon, out of the ordinary, extraordinary.
Theme:
Reconstruction of the masculinity, which arises from the personal and collective awareness and deep reflection.
Generating question:
From what positions will I face the new social needs that are “demanded”?
Resource:
Use of a spatial delimitation through lighting, where there were ways of projecting body images of the interpreter's body, which in a dramaturgical way, supported the idea of deconstructing and constructing new versions of the masculine.
Part of our research and deepening of the themes was reflected by references such as:
Men who no longer suffer for love by Coral Herrera
Patriarchy does not exist anymore by Roxana Kreimer
Gender ideology by Agustin Laje
How difficult it is to be a man by Maritere Lee Stalescu
The performances
We had the intention of creating an intimate atmosphere, both for the audience and for the interpreter, since it was sought that at the end of the performance, there would be a dialogue that would serve as reflection and feedback from the audience-interpreter-creator link. That is why there was a careful selection of the audience that went to see the play.
Two performances were held, in the first week of December 2020. As artists and as an audience, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, it had been difficult for us to perform face-to-face, however, with mutual support and care; Disembody, Inaudible, Unusual was able to appear in a housing space that was a suitable forum for dance.
The interpreter shares his experience with us:
This work was a personal challenge, since in a certain way, a formal dance forum provides you with certain “comforts” that were difficult for us to achieve. Installing lights, a safe flooring, and even a curtain becomes a difficult task for just two people. As a performer, I should also think as a staff and as an organizer.
From my experience, the first show was a fiasco, we tried to put on and take off the "curtain" which was complex, because the audience saw me interfere and the magic of the performance became lost. However, for the last performance we managed to solve technical aspects throughout the same work. We connected the three sections, the interpreter made his costume change in front of the audience, he cleaned the stage every time he change scene and everything enriched the work more and more. The audience reacted in a way that we could not have imagined. It was a very satisfying job and experience for me. I am determined to continue exploring this housing space as a possibility for performance.
At the end of the performances, a videographic evidence of the work was made, which helped us to prepare and edit a small video that helped us to participate in online platforms as well. Some of them were: UDLAP Dance 2021, Tlaxcala Dance Day and Móvica Spring Fest 2021.
The team
Verá Art Co is an artistic platform that seeks to develop and promote ideas through movement and other disciplines, using a concept that we call: human-compost.
Human-compost is a term that represents the philosophy in which Verá Art operates. It proposes the search for artistic organic matter to be able to vegetate (develop, germinate, nurture, grow and multiply) expressive ideas of the individual through collectiveness.
This term was influenced by a type of biological technology called worm-compost, it relies on worms to transform organic matter. Together, when they eat, they process the food in their bodies, transform it into nutrients, release it, and make compost. The same is intended with human-compost.
We relate the organic matter to bodies, ideas, needs, experiences, stories, times, spaces, which together make a coherence for the artistic endeavor, and compost to the objectives that we set ourselves as collaborators.
The collaborators
Eder Arrasquito
Performer and Creator
Transdisciplinary artist from the city of Puebla (1998) graduated from the Diploma in Circus Arts from the Centro de Artes de Querétaro and the Bachelor's Degree in Dance from the Universidad de las Américas Puebla, he was a finalist in the 4X4 TJ Night choreography contest (2019) as co-creator of the piece "Temporary Agreements" in collaboration with the company Proyecto Segundo Piso.He has participated in festivals such as the World Dance Alliance Americas in El Paso, Texas and the Texas Dance Improvisational Festival. He is currently a member of the interdisciplinary company So Def Nation and co-creator of Verá Art Co.
Valentina Rentería
Scenic Artist
Born in Mexicali Baja California, in 1997. She began and developed her career in the performing arts as a dancer of different disciplines, such as jazz, ballet, modern dance and contemporary dance.
She has done her artistic studies at institutions such as the Foro Dancistico de Baja California, Sisti Dance Place, University of Oregon and the Universidad de las Américas Puebla. She has participated in events such as the Congreso National de Danza Jazz, the Texas Dance Improvisational Festival, among others. In 2012 she was co-founder of La Pieza Jazz, a representative dance group that participates in national events. In 2018 she was part of The Max México as a performer.
In 2020, she became co-founder of Verá Art Co, an organization focused on the development of projects related to the creation and teaching of performing art in various formats.
Her interests are focused on the development of the artist and scenic creation. She is currently in a constant search for her artistic integrity.
The works
Apart from Disembody, Inaudible, Unusual, Verá Art Co has elaborated other works, two of them are The boda gets in the way and I Finger.
The body gets in the way
This is a choreographic work directed by Eder Arrasquito, within El Zacatón Circuito de Artes del Movimiento, by his final project within UDLAP. In this work, performed by Valentina Rentería Coronado, the concepts of "Homo Videns" proposed by Sartori were explored, which explains the way in which everything is presented to us through visualization.
In addition to that, the main questions of this stage work were: What happens to the body when faced with the decay of tangible reality? How do we face the hyper-connected and hyper-individualist era?
"The important thing is to transmit, instead of living it"
The body hinders is a sample of the prevailing spiritual capitalism. It portrays the way we perceive our bodies through the network, the screen and social networks. Visual representations travel, while our body does not, it gets in the way.
Process Video
I finger
This video art is inspired by nanodance, created by Koss & Cry. In this performance, the inexorable relationship between the micro and the macro is explored, the body being the main axis of this link. I finger creates an artistic perception using size, dimension, and speed.
It is currently participating in the Heyri Cinema Festival 2021.
The goodbye
Finally I would like to clarify the purpose of writing this post. At Verá Art Co, the thinking that a scenic work entails, in its different stages of development, is important. We not only talk about the internal processes for the construction of the scenic discourse, but also the impact it will have on the viewer and how this will nurture the works with their own reflections, observations and experiences. The entry to this blog tries to do the same, share thoughts that can possibly form communities.
Contact us
Email: art.vera.co@gmail.com
Instagram: @veraart.co
Keywords:
Artistic Expression, Dance Film, Dance Organizations, Global Perspective
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