The expression on their faces denotes anguish, the fear of losing what little they had, of knowing if they will arrive or stay on the road… The coming and going of their hands expresses hope and injustice; His legs are the perfect weapon to make the movement a complaint.
“It is dance, the art of speaking without words about the indolence that invades our world today,” says the dancer and choreographer Isabel Beteta.
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The founder and director of Los Talleres Cultural Centerdescribes in an interview the importance of disseminating, through art, the challenges that today’s society faces every day, such as the issue of migration.
“Art has always been a mirror or reflection of what happens in society and in this case through symbolic works we represent everything that is generated from migration, that clash of cultures, human beings with another way of seeing. the world, that they come with fear, which also manifests itself in the people who reside in the place they arrive; They fear that their jobs will be taken away from them and governments will not have the capacity to absorb so many people and give them what they need. We live in a time in which the extreme sides of the human being are being reflected,” said Beteta.
He says that the unfair acts and negative behaviors of human beings have served throughout history as a reference for the staging of classic works of drama.
“Just as the assembly of Macbethof William Shakespeare, It showed a story full of intrigue, the dance does its thing showing the reality of what we are seeing worldwide and sorry to say it, but what politicians are doing all over the world, including Mexico, is a theater. “Sometimes they look like clowns.”
This is how it arises Tepalcatespiece by the choreographer Duane Cochran with which the season opens Dance x la libre on April 13, in the Los Talleres Cultural Center.
Tepalcatesaccording to Cochranis the metaphor for a man’s fractured soul and will be performed by the company he founded and directs, Aksenti Contemporary dance.
“The project of Dance x la libre As its name indicates, it is create dance without limits, like going on a road without paying fees. It began long before cultural scholarships emerged and is made up of already experienced dancers who have survived adversity.
“The theme is focused, on the one hand, on the hug, on saying: ‘Come, I’ll shelter you’ and on the other hand there is indolence, which is the most serious thing that is currently happening, the thought of ‘whatever hurts me doesn’t hurt me.’ is happening to the other’. And art sometimes presents it directly and other times in a more symbolic way, because dance, having no words, has to do so from emotion, with a symbol shared with the public,” says Beteta.
Cochran describes his work like the fragments of a clay pot: “It is possible to put the pieces of this soul or spirit together.” His proposal was born because one day he saw himself in the mirror and decided that he had to change his life, change his skin.
Five characters appear on stage, each one is in search of something, and as they interact they get to know themselves.
The piece is focused on the masculine essence and explores the duality of human beings, such as strength and fragility, rudeness and tenderness.
Composed of seven scenes, Tepalcates It begins with a video with strong images about broken things and feelings. The pair of functions that Aksenti will perform at Los Talleres marking the beginning of his tourwhich will take the company to Mérida and Valladolid in Yucatánwith the support of Efiartes Fiscal Stimulus.
“Tepalcates It premiered last year and is about the fragmentation of our society, the contrast between the animal and the human, a very visually attractive work, it is a poem.
“Then a duet is presented by a servant and the other with the teacher Victoria Camero based on the original binomials or twins; I thought about Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, one green and the other red, they were opposite but complementary. I am whiter and we move very differently, we take advantage of all possible differences and at the same time we are integrated.
“The other premiere work is called Hug, It is also mine and comes from that idea of how many times you can hug yourself. It is loaded with an emotional issue, it was thought more like a painting, like a drawing of intertwined bodies and it has the rhythm of separating and coming together, and little by little it takes on all the connotation that a hug entails.”
The evolution of contemporary dance
Teacher Beteta says that “the development of dance has become more sophisticated, and the interaction of creatives has occurred more clearly, with the choreographer sharing his idea with the costume designer and set designer to generate an idea that is enriched.” and thus a very important part emerges, which are the effects of light and shadow, all of this gives it a new discourse so that the work is more forceful.”
“Mexico has a very particular and valuable characteristic which is the fact that everything that comes from other parts is assimilated, transformed and incorporated, I would dare say that it becomes subtle with the new thing that arrives. Each group has its personality and has to do with how the techniques that come from other countries have been assimilated, we have preserved the graham, he Butho, the lemon, the Releasehe Flying low and movements from the joints. However, We continue training in classical ballet, and area danceyours truly has done all those techniques along with most of the current dancers for at least this season.”
Consider that The new generations rely on the immediacy of social networks and that it is difficult for them to adapt to the guidelines of the traditional academy.
“Currently there is a lot of confusion in the sense that we live in a time in which the satisfactions are very fast, because you can have everything at hand from the Internet, hence I say that there is a lot of confusion because there is enthusiasm Yes, there is interest, but there is a large group that becomes disillusioned when they do not see the result quickly. And the other is that they are not used to and do not like traditional rigor and that has generated a lot of conflict in some schools, they are not used to being demanded of them but it is a whole package that they will get used to and without a doubt they will do it.
His legacy
Beteta graduated from Rice University, Houston, degree in art history, French literature and plastic arts (1977).
She began her training as a classical dancer under the tutelage of Margarita Contreras. Shortly after, he ventured into the world of professional dance as an apprentice at the Choreographic Workshop of the UNAM and later as a dancer in Danza Libre at UNAM, directed by Cristina Gallegos. In 1982 she traveled to New York, where she studied Horton techniques at the Joyce Tristler Dance Company, Pilates with Carola Trier and Classical with Zinna Rommet.
“When talking about my legacy, the simplest thing is to say that I leave the space of the workshops and that means everything that has happened here, there have been 40 years of dance, there is a historical legacy in the space itself in the time that has past that will continue when it is no longer there, that is what I am programming in my mind.
I did not have children nor was I interested, my life has been dance and that will continue when I am gone. I’m turning 70 and I still dance as if I were 40, obviously I take care not to be ‘bears’ on stage, the body no longer matters the same but there are other things that are nourished more, and I think they are perceived on stage.
“I would like to be able to say that I have integrated into the world the knowledge of the internal rhythm of the body, that is an amalgamation of the techniques that you have been assimilating little by little, and that become part of your body and which emerge when you die, That is projected in the choreographies, where you can see where I come from, from an art and plastic arts studio, the workshop space, the choreographic legacy and what I can share on stage as a person,” he shares.
In 2016, Isabel Beteta received the Fine Arts Medal. He previously won the award as a performer SOMEC-VITARS 2004 and in 2008 the XXI José Limón National Dance Awardamong a long list of activities and recognitions.
Dance x for free
On April 19, 20 and 21, Nemian Danza Escénica will be presented with a triad of recent premieres by the company’s longest-serving members and choreographers: Without excusesby Rosario Verea, and those who fallby Javier Amado, work inspired by Macbeth with its dose of passion and desire, ambition for power and lack of will.
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Signos Vitales Danza Contemporánea, a company formed in 2015,will take place on April 26, 27 and 28, with To say…it is unnecessarya proposal that uses sign language to reflect on the relationship and the expression of love, and Sound of silenceabout how in the absence of noise nothing explains everything.
during the season Dance x la libre also The Choreographers, Anzar Danza and Tándem Cía will perform. Dance the last three weekendsrespectively.