Jesús Carmona, dancer and choreographer at MUN: "In 'Baile de bestias' is my greatest truth and I go to the extreme physically and emotionally".

The inner beasts come up this Thursday, at 19:30 pm, to the boards of the Museo Universidad de Navarra by Jesús Carmona (Barcelona, 1985). The Benois de la Danse Award to the best dancer and National Dance Award - Creation 2020 will premiere in Museo en Danza his show Dance of beastsa proposal that, in his words, opens the doors to a "dream world" that springs from "a very tangible reality". On this path he is accompanied on stage by Manu Masaedo, singer and multi-instrumentalist. Tickets are still on sale (26, 24 and 22 euros).

In his presentation, the artist explained that this work arises from an inner exploration, made from a deep honesty: "This is my greatest truth. I have discovered a movement, a truth in me, that I was afraid to express before. I need to go to the extreme physically and emotionally and I do it in this show. I need to get into that beast, let it scratch me and make me bring out everything inside me". In it "primal feelings that every human being has, emotions, feelings and circumstances that we have gone through, we have not been able to overcome and we tend to push them down so they do not bother us on a daily basis". 

Although each person can identify their own demons on stage, Carmona has pointed out that one of the beasts he has identified is "masculinity, the prototypes and stereotypes we have, with which 99.9% of me do not feel identified. It has nothing to do with your sexual tendency but with how you see yourself as a man. It means breaking with all those chains that society, the heteropatriarchy and machismo have put on us like a heavy backpack".

FLAMENCO AND AVANT-GARDE

The artist has also clarified that Baile de bestias "is not a typical flamenco show, although it is the primary language in which Manu and I move. Both he in his music and creations, and I in my dance, have a lot of information from other music and dance, something that has arisen in a very natural and organic way. I feel freer than ever. I didn't want to set any visual or aesthetic stereotype of what a dancer should be". In this sense, freedom is imposed even in that fight against the beasts of each one: "Sometimes this is not pleasant and we come up against very big walls, but I think we manage to break them down".

In the conception of his art there is a growing mestizo spirit: "Traditionalism and avant-garde must coexist. Those of us who work in the avant-garde, in the freedom of movement in an art with so many roots, must know those roots. I come from there. And I have needed to look for my own movement within that art". Thus, he maintains that "being able to bring avant-garde flamenco proposals, from another place, also contributes to the public".

On this occasion he has also collaborated again with the playwright Ferrán Carvajal, a very rich exploration that they have done through self-knowledge: "He has proposed many exercises that we have done through stillness and recognizing your body as a room, rediscovering yourself from the smallest. This has made me reach those beasts. I have had moments of rage and impotence that have been transformed into something very beautiful. The result is like a pearl in the middle of the sea, tiny and beautiful".

THINKING IN DANCE

Baile de bestias will also be the star of the last session of Thinking in Dancethis Friday, at 7 p.m., in Room 2 of the Museum. At the meeting, Luis Galván, professor of Theory of Literature at the University of Navarra, will talk with philosopher Ibis Albizu on the subject of bestiary and emotions in literature and dance to shed light on the aesthetic keys of the latest work of choreographer Jesús Carmona. Admission is free until full capacity is reached by invitation only.