The animal, the unfamiliar body, the breath that gives me life, the hidden face. From where does the authentic “I” emerge? What are the demands and emotional dependencies that arise with the creation of a being?
This piece ‘First Breath’ is a break with the connotations of flamenco that beat inside one’s body and, and at the same time, the reconstruction of a heart.
How is it possible to locate your authentic self when you have to be the perfect daughter or the good ‘flamenca’? The piece is based on a personal investigation into my own relationship with my mother and, at the same time, my relationship with flamenco. The flamenco dress represents the emotional dependencies that exist in these relationships and the desire to free oneself from them. At the same time, the dress represents for me the demands of tradition and how it influences the construction of my identity as an artist/dancer.
As I created the piece, I felt how the dress took me back to the moment of birth, and all that is involved in the creation of a being. The dress transforms me into an animal, into an unfamiliar body, the breath makes me feel alive, the face that is not revealed.
I needed to break with all the connotations of flamenco and the human being in order to rebuild this being that even at the end of the piece still makes me ask: who is she?
Duration of the piece: aprox 15 min.
Idea, creation, choreography: Iris Dekker
Sound: José Tomé, Adam Newby
Video foto/ outside eye: Adam Newby
choreographic Advice/ outside eye: Noemi Luz
Primer Aliento premiered on February 7, 2020 at Corto y bailo, the dance and video-dance series organized by Camille Cartier in Seville at La Casa Ensambla. First Breath has been created thanks to a residency at the Conservatorio de Danza Profesional Antonio Ruiz Soler (Sevilla).
Please contact me if you want more information about this piece.
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