Aquí&Allá: Omar Carrum – English Transcription

Episode 1.10

Interview with Omar Carrum, by Stephanie García on July 1st, 2020

Click here to listen to Episode 1.10

Reference list at bottom of page

Stephanie: Omar Carrum is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and filmmaker. He was a DELFOS Danza Contemporánea founding member from 1993 to 2017 and has been a faculty member of the Bates Dance Festival since 2010. He has twice received The National Dance Award as performer and Choreographer and seven grants by FONCA (National and State Funds for Culture and Arts in Mexico). In 2009 he became the first Mexican choreographer to receive a Guggenheim fellowship. In 2014 he became a member of SNCA (the National System of Arts Creators) and from 2018 to 2020 he received the grant as a creator/interpreter with a background of support from FONCA, which are two of the most important recognition for artists in Mexico. His short film ‘Fifth Wall,’ co-directed with Dutch Rall was selected by the Short Film Corner in CANNES (2013), and by Agite y Sirva (2014).

S: Hi Omar. Welcome to ‘Aquí&Allá: conversations with creators of contemporary art!’ How are you today?

Omar: Well, very well. It is about to rain here. We are very good.

S: Where are you?

O: I am in Mexico City, on a 4th floor, on a rooftop, where I have a wonderful open sky.

S: Well, we already gave an introduction of who Omar Carrum is but, we would like you to share with us in your own words where you are from and who Omar is.

O: I mean, very complicated. Where I am from and who I am. Well, I am from Mexico City, I am a native of here, I was born here, ehh, but at the age of 24 I went to live in the city of Mazatlán, when I was with Delfos. I was with the Delfos company for 24 years and I was living in Mazatlán. And about 3 years ago I left the company and the Professional Dance School of Mazatlán, because I came here to create a base in Mexico City but I am a nomad. I am a nomadic artist. So, I live between the Czech Republic, Colombia, Japan, Panama, Ecuador, and wherever there is work, right? So, I don’t know where I’m from, I say I was born here, but I don’t know where I’m from, where I live. I live somewhere and nowhere, right?

S: From ‘here and there’ (Aquí&Allá) …

O: From here and there. Ehh, who am I? I am me. I am Omar. I am a performing artist. I have been dedicated to the performing arts for almost 30 years. I started my career at the Ema Pulido Dance Studio at the age of 17, and at 19 I founded the company Delfos together with Víctor Ruiz and Claudia Lavista. I was with them for 24 years. After 5 years of being here in Mexico City with Delphos, we decided to go to the City of Mazatlán and we developed what the Professional Dance School of Mazatlán is now from its conception. We created it, founded it, and I directed it until 2017. Well basically I can tell you that I did and trained, and much of my artistic career; Well, I did it with Delphos, right? For 24 years and during that time, I obviously began to develop my creative work as a choreographer, as well as a performer and also my pedagogical work. Since I started my career, I started teaching and already with the Mazatlan school, directing it and being a teacher in various areas, and then guiding the entire group of teachers, because I also developed my pedagogical area. In 2017, I decided to separate from the company and stop running the school to carry out my own project called Worldrobed, and basically what I do are long-term residencies in various cities around the world. I dedicate myself to collaborating with performing artists and artists from other disciplines. I keep doing workshops and teaching in different places. I teach at the Duncan Center in Prague. I also work as a teacher in Japan, putting on plays and giving classes there during the summer and I collaborate with companies in Brazil like Camaleón. Also in Colombia I have collaborated with Cortocinesis, and with the Detonos project, which is directed by Angélica Acuña. Well, who am I? Well, I am a person who basically dedicates himself to questioning everything he does and all the things I get involved with. Since there is a very strong influence of what is permeability and adaptability, I love being in a mimetic relationship with the environment and this is that the environment influences me. And this is not just the physical environment, but also that of the people around me and the people I get involved with, right? My project is basically to be in search of what the third entity is. It is what I call the third entity when I put an idea on the table and you put another idea on the table, and from the conjunction of the two ideas, a third idea arises that would never have existed if we had not combined our personal ideas. And I call that third idea the third identity. And that’s what I love because I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I’m really a bit bored with myself. So I need others to be able to generate new ideas. And that’s basically what I do.

S: I was just going to ask you why you were so interested in the topic of collaboration, but I think with this you answer it.

O: Yes, well, what happens is that I find it fascinating. I have also been working for a long time on a project called Escorporarte, which I co-directed with Vladimir Rodríguez. We have been working together since 2010 in the creation of a piece called Escrito Absurdo, which well, to this day we still present it. I don’t know how many representations we have given of that piece…

S: And what has been transformed, I suppose…

O: … and what has been transformed, each time, yes because we are each time different. It is an improvisational piece, so it is constantly changing and that is how it’s been since I started collaborating with Vladimir, a form of education in which there is exhaustive research, obviously as in work, as in the exploration of any of the topics in which one engages, but also, this way of collaborating and learning to collaborate and be permeable to this environment, right? and that then in all layers of life. For me, this idea of permeability has been transposed in everything I do. In 2012 I gave a name to a pedagogical system, to a system called Continuum, and which was precisely developed from these pedagogical concerns, from questioning what I had been doing previously and everything I have faced, and it emerged this training system. And it has to do with this type of philosophy of life, right? How to try, from training, to build a permeable body that is willing and adaptable to everything that happens in its environment and the same routes as in its moment, one proposes as a teacher, right?

S: Yes, yes, that seems very pertinent, especially at a time like this that we are going through and that just, puts everything we know and the way in which we have conducted ourselves in performing art, beyond the proposal, but the logic of how representation is, presents us head-on in this situation where it is not possible to continue doing so and we have to adapt, and learn, and understand other ways of relating.

O: Yes, totally. In fact, one of the things that happened the moment this confinement began and all things started to be canceled for the performing artists… I think this is a global thing, all the performing artists around the world, we have canceled presentations, workshops, classes, that is, everything that our professional life means. So, at that moment comes a very strong question about identity because one says, ‘what, what am I? Well, I’m a performing artist. Yes, well, but what does that mean?’ Because one can define it with its particularities, that is, what defines a performing artist? Well, someone who does this, this, this and this, and at the moment when the quarantine of the pandemic began, because what we describe, what defines us as performing artists, no longer exists, or no longer exists in the same way. Then comes a very strong questioning of identity. And well, if I can tell you that this idea of permeability is totally relevant at this moment and for me, it has been fundamental and this is how we have been creating. This is how I have taught and this is how I am living. What is there? This, how do we do it? Well, we have to adapt, and be permeable, and what is the information from the outside giving me in order to start working? Right?

S: Yes, very correct. Before going deep into this roll of the pandemic and art, you told us that you start with Ema Pulido, but how come you get to dance? How did you come to the art world?

O: How did I get to the art world? Well, first came the art of entertainment, that is, I went, at 17 before entering that dance hall, I was going for, I wanted to be an ethologist. In other words, I was very clear about my career, according to me, I wanted to study animal behavior, I was fascinated by animals and liked everything that was around me. I had already planned my biology career, my zoology master’s degree and my ethology doctorate. I mean, I had it perfectly planned. But one day I went to pick up my mother, my mother is big dancer, an unmissable dancer, to go to the dance halls of Mexico City at the age of 17 we stayed to see her in the Riviera Room, because I had gone to a high school party and she, like every weekend had gone to the Rivera Room, and we stayed to meet there to pick her up, and now from there we would come to the house. And when I entered that Riviera Room… Do you remember the Riviera Room? That Hall like a double floor and that place on that huge dance floor, because it was obviously very full, and I go up to the second floor to look for my mother because I couldn’t find her, and I see two wonderful Black people, dressed in white dancing merengue. It was a party of the Dominican Republic, and I saw them dance in the middle of that crowd, with that style and I said, ‘No, it can’t be, that’s wonderful!’ And I said. ‘I have to take a class with them.’ And I went downstairs, and I looked for them, and I asked them, and indeed they were giving merengue, reggae, lambada classes, it was the era of lambada, right? and sasa. And they were my first dance classes. I got into that workshop that they, Ever and Zoraya were giving… look, I remember the name perfectly! And I took those classes and immediately after that I said, ‘I love this.’ So, I went with my uncle Hugo, Hugo Semoloni, he is my uncle and he is an actor, and I said to him, ‘Hey, I want to study this.’ ‘Ahhh well let’s go, I’ll take you to the teacher Ema Pulido,’ and he connected me to the teacher Ema Pulido, to the Professional Dance Studio Ema Pulido, and well I said, ‘I love this.’ And I wanted to be a dancer of jazz, dancing behind Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul. And that was what I wanted to do. I started at 17 years old. What happens is that the Professional Dance Studio of Ema Pulido is professional, or I know, they give you ballet every day, jazz every day, contemporary, that is, and also, I became obsessed. I started taking all the possible classes because I realized that I had started very late at 17 years old. I was never elastic. I mean, things were hard for me, so I became obsessed. When I finished high school, I entered when I was 17 years old, and I spent a year going all afternoon, I left at 2pm at school, from 2pm in the afternoon until 9pm at night I was there, all day taking classes. And when I got out of high school, I went straight to classes. I arrived at 7am in the morning and left at 9pm at night. I got a scholarship. I took about 6 classes a day. I tied myself to the bed to be more elastic, so I slept tied. I did my homework at the end of high school on a ladder with my leg tied up, while reading a book and stuff. So I became very obsessed but fortunately they gave us many contemporary classes. I remember perfectly when Roberto Robles came to teach us, and I invited myself to see him dance. They were giving a show with two Mexican women who had come from Venezuela, and he invited me to see him dance. And it was precisely the first season that Delphos had in November at UNAM. And I went to see Roberto Robles dance because he invited me, he was my teacher, and there I saw Victor and Claudia, and I found them fascinating. For some reason, the things I like, I attract it to my life, that’s how I attracted Roberto Robles, that’s how I attracted him to my life. I went to see him at a contest at the Virginia Fábregas theater and I saw him dance. I loved it and then he went to teach at Emma’s School. He invited me to see Delphos. I see them and for some reason Victor and Claudia come to Emma’s Studio and start teaching there. And because they needed a dancer to start the company, they had no dancers. Then they see me, they like him, they like me, and that’s where the story began. And so I joined them to form the company. And then we started a very strong artistic career. I leave Ema. I start to train, and well, my career as a performing artist is with them, right?

S: How beautiful!

O: Now, you were asking me, how do I decide? Because obviously, I feel like there are a number of fundamental decisions in life, right? One of those was going to take merengue classes. Then I went to take classes with Ema Pulido. Then entered the Delphos company. But when I decide that this is what I want to do for my whole life, it is in a work called ‘Sótano’. It is a work by Claudia Lavista where I performed this piece with Víctor Ruiz. It is about two characters who are in a basement. It is a work that is silent and we were rehearsing for the first presentations of the company, in the Shakespeare Forum. And we were rehearsing for a long time in a very small space, that space was so small, that we had to change the beginning to fit. And there we rehearsed. There the company started. There Delphos started. And I remember very well the first day that the show happened, the premiere, where I premiered for the first time on stage and something very strange happened that fascinated me. It was this character that we were building during rehearsals, as if I had moved and had used my body to be on the scene, and there were no lights, there was no audience, no longer there was anything that was fiction. Everything became a real space. It was very strange and it was such a present experience. And when the work finished and I left. It was as if I had returned, as if I had entered my body again and had moved again, that character that had been building. And I became addicted. I became addicted to this state and that is what I dedicated myself to search for and that I continue to search for during this time, that process of transformation of the interpreter. In fact, I even did a very, very deep investigation about it, with the project I requested for the Guggenheim scholarship, and it was precisely about that: about analyzing the performer’s transformation processes. And one, that’s why I do what I do, for now, I said, ‘I love this, I want to continue doing this for life.’ And from there, it has been this investigation. I have not always succeeded and I precisely realize what are the things that are needed to access that state, right?

S: Certainly as you say, this type of experience, that is, there are still things you like, right? One decides. ‘Ok, if I want to dance, I want to dedicate myself to art.’ But also, on that path many doubts assail you and this type of thing becomes without a doubt that it is something that means or transcends you, or marks you in a way and what you say, of becoming addicted. I think it is like a fundamental part of dedicating yourself to art and in this case, yes, if it starts at the beginning a little individual, for your own pleasure but that also transcends, it does not end up being a selfish thing but appeals to other senses. But there has to be a principle of enjoyment, if not, I think it doesn’t make sense.

O: Yes, no, that’s it, totally, totally. There has to be a pleasure, an internal pleasure. I don’t know. There is a teacher, a wonderful artist, a great friend, my brother with such a soul, his name is Michael Foley, and one of the most important things for me, from him is that he always reminded me of that, the pleasure of dancing. Because when we become performing artists and we become extremely complex and profound, and then everything has to have a meaning, and meanings, and symbols and semiotics, and otherness and I don’t know what mother! Fundamental and fantastic. But there is an essence prior to that which is an enormous enjoyment for doing what we do. I mean, what we do, and the fact of moving, and that intrinsic pleasure that is in it, right? And obviously, those pleasures are changing but, I think that what you have just mentioned is important because if you do not feel pleasure in what you are doing, it is better not to do it. Although it is wonderful, even if it is the art that is going to save lives and all this stuff, already super deep that we artists have, I believe that the most important work of art that we have in our life is our lifestyle, right? It is that our own life… is that we are happy and that we live well because if it, what for? No? I say.

S: Yes, I agree. Let’s see, and based on that, what is art for you? And what is art for? I mean, what do you think their role is in the world?

O: Oops, how complex, they are very complicated (the questions), really. I am super banal and superficial, I could tell you. No, I believe that art is a space for questioning. Well… no, no, no. In other words, there is a different type of art, the art of entertainment and that is essential as well. Entertaining yourself is essential and that is not at odds with elitist art. Elitist art, effectively, puts us in a state of reflection and as quoted in other words in this book, ‘The Civilization of Spectacle’ by Vargas Llosa. And there is another book that is also interesting regarding this comparison between art entertainment and elitist art, Alessandro Baricco’s book, ‘The Invasion of the Barbarians‘. In other words, there is indeed a difference in art and we go from crafts to entertainment art, to contemporary art and elitist art that gets you into all this deep reflection, and it could actually change you. In other words, the art that makes you reflect and that makes you question your life, if it modifies you. But I don’t think it modifies you in a positive way either. I also feel that there is art that modifies you in a negative way. I mean, it influences you, it moves you, it wobbles you, right? What can I tell you? What is art? Well, it is as a means of expression, it is the way in which we express ourselves, certain people who choose this particular way of expressing themselves and that can be through painting, singing, any of the performing arts, right? Theater, dance, circus, or any other type of expression where you can restate what you want to say with words, in a metaphorical way or in another way that is not direct… but it can also be because, he is also the one who writes prose, No? That is as well as direct. So it is an amalgam of many things and many possibilities. Art, I feel that it is a means of expression that can be cataloged in many different ways and within that same form of expression, there are also many peculiarities to make it. Ehh, I consider that there is an art of entertainment that is fundamental, to entertain us, so, I say it, and there are others that invite us to reflect and modify our way of thinking, our emotions, which can allow us access to parts of our subconscious, to things that we have somehow closed or that we have some blockage, or simply allows us to see other things in life and opens up a different panorama. I am not much of the idea, because if I can tell you, because I have heard it a lot, that, “art that saves lives and art is so important in the pandemic because with this, we are going to save lives.” I’m not very much in favor of that because what we need right now is to eat. So, now it is more important to learn to grow your own food, for example, than to make art. I mean, I don’t know, in that sense I am sometimes a little reticent about this idea that art is the one that saves lives, right? If I consider it fundamental, it has effectively helped me save my life, but I am also cultivating and that right now is also changing my life and it has changed many things about my identity and that is not art, although I could say, ‘the art of horticulture, the art of making a bonsai.’ It is so relative, what is art? The culinary art, I tell you, of horticulture. So there are many ways to talk about what art is. I don’t know, it seems to me an extremely controversial and confusing topic.

S: Yes, what you mention is important and yes, there will be art as long as there are human beings in this world, right? Or maybe outside of it, I don’t know. But it is true that there are different dimensions and certain priorities, and it is true that there are people who do not think of art as long as they cannot solve the most basic needs….

O: Exactly! …

S: … and survival, right? And we also have to understand that, it is hard but we have to understand it. And there are also people who can survive either a pandemic or a very difficult time in life, even without cultured art, right? In other words, people have access to various sources of entertainment and so it is.

O: Netflix! Netflix! I mean, because it is the art of entertainment and there are some pieces there, but wonderful! And they are entertainment and they are very well made, I mean, the ‘Paper House’? It is very well made, isn’t it? I mean, what could you say, is it entertainment? Or is it elitist art? Also, who defines that? Who are the ones who define whether it is art to enter a contemporary art gallery in New York, or not. Is that going for Netflix to be an entertainment series? Who defines it? Who decides it? Man!

S: You told us a while ago, at the beginning, what you have been developing. I would like you to tell us as a creator, what are your creative processes like? And when you find some kind of creative barrier, you know, what you say, ‘Suddenly I have had enough of myself, I am tired, I feel that I repeat myself, I feel like I find the same conclusion all the time.’ What do you do to break that barrier and find a solution or a different path?

O: Yeah, this… Oops! Another complicated one, what a thing! Well, look, I think that in each process and in each period of life it is different. That is, I remember when I made works 20 years ago and, well, they were based on phrasing and movement, and I did works, because they were fun also, right? where the base is the choreographic composition and that’s it. And well there is an idea out there, but it is basically based on phrasing to generate a good choreographic composition in time and space, right? So, I think that the compositions are going to vary with time and the way in which one creates. It changes with time. I do not consider myself a creator, I, in fact, I believe that there are no creators. I believe that we are all assemblers of ideas and pasts, and experiences. And from the possibility of accumulating and being able to generate as many experiences as possible. It is that one has more possibilities of making different types of assembly and the practice of creation, it is precisely that, ‘how do I assemble this with this’ and the, ‘shall I stick it with these others?’ And then these possibilities are generated there, or at least that is what I consider creation to be. And I’m telling you because, well, also a concept that has questioned my head a lot these days, is this idea like the present, right? What is the present? Do we really have a present? Does it really exist as such? Could it be that this present, that is my idea, is just like all the accumulation of past experiences and future desires? How is it that you make a decision? Do you make a decision in the present? Really? Or that present decision is based on all your past experiences and wishes for the future, which also, those wishes for the future come from your past experiences and what you are seeing for the future. So what really is that present moment but that union, right? That point of union that would be the past and the future. So well, to that extent, how do I think? I mean, how do I make these assemblages? For me, creating is like a puzzle, so for me, the first thing is that you have a concern in your head, have an idea, a concern, right? Sometimes when the pulse comes directly from my obsession and an idea that I really need to get out and I don’t know how, because it is already there as the obsession, which seems fundamental to me, having an obsession with an idea. Sometimes no, sometimes you have to do it by trade, sometimes you get a job and sometimes it is, ‘Oops, how do I do it? Tons, I have to look for something that obsesses me otherwise, I cannot create. That is, by trade like this, ‘Make a work of this and now.’ So you do it by trade, as it does not come out and I do not like to work like this. So, to either side, I need to find something that generates curiosity, a tremendous curiosity and that generates my emotions, and that moves me internally, and that reaches the point that I can bring it to my head all day. You know? That’s like the first step, isn’t it? So, I look for how to have something that moves me internally. So, I speak to you as of the last period but I also speak to you, of the previous periods in which I have been working. But in the last period that has to do with fundamental decisions and a tabula rasa in my life, because I have as a few confrontations directly with death that make me question life, question it and value it tremendously and that, precisely, leads me to take fundamental decisions where my whole life changed, right? I leave Delphos. I stop running the school and I go out into the world, right? I go out to the world to live because of a very particular need to live and experience a series of things. What happens after life? Also, they are unanswered questions because nobody can answer them. And then it comes as a concern, as a series of questions. And from those questions, combine them with other stories, with other experiences, with other people’s ideas in that collaboration. But I have also thought, because I love the absurd, I am a fanatic about the absurd, how to look for it and turn it around because if we go as fully as possible with a part as dramatic as death, because I believe that we are lost and we we are going to lose along the way, and it is going to be too much for the public. So I always like to make cuts. Since we made the piece of Escrito Absurdo, we had these findings of making breaks for the appreciation of the public, in that piece and from there, I loved that idea as absurd and also as for all the work of the performer. In other words, the absurd for it to work has to be completely truthful. So, what I have done lately is precisely that, I have my theme, which for me is very deep and that moves me, and I don’t know what, I share it with the people with whom I am collaborating. But later I look for implausible stories or things that are related to the subject or that have nothing to do with the subject. But personal stories whether they are mine or the people with whom I am collaborating and that they give it as a change. And then I try to generate fiction by combining all those stories. I do not know, I feel that as interesting as my life may be, which I do not think, it can be very boring for people. So, I am interested in generating more complex characters, and the way for me to generate these more complex characters, has to do with this combination of stories that have nothing to do combined the same reality, that is, a story of death with a completely implausible story of the most shit thing that has happened to you in your life, right? And in the fusion of the two stories, a complex character begins to be generated. Besides that I’ve been obsessed with multiple personality disorder for about 10 years, which I find fascinating. I’m a fan of Oliver Sacks. I love death disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), Tourette’s Syndrome, right? I mean, all these disorders of the mind seem fascinating to me, because the mind is fascinating. So I look for how to investigate that, and what I am looking for using I am going to see a scenic piece is that it moves me. That is, I go to see a totally abstract piece where I see as great virtuosity as of legs and this type of thing in dance, or big jumps, or big turns, the truth, it catches me for 5 minutes. I mean, it’s not that it’s wrong, or that it’s okay, but it catches me for 5 minutes and then, I’m already starting to create. And I love that when I go to see a play, I forget about the theater, that is, something happens on stage and I can forget about the theater, I can forget about the lights, I can forget that I am sitting down, I forget everything and I can connect with that person, or with the scene, or whatever is happening. That is one of the things that happened to me, for example, with a wonderful company called La Intrusa. I am a fan of Virginia García and Damián Muñoz, that is, they are my idols. The way they connect things on stage and how they build, and what they project, and how they move me, I’m a fan of them. I’m a fan of another wonderful choreographer from the Czech Republic named Lenka Vagnerová, where it doesn’t matter, that is: it is not dance, it is not singing, it is not theater; whatever it takes to express your idea, that has to go inside the piece, that has to go in. So, I consider that the entrance stage art, there is no division, at least for me, that is for me, within what I do, if it is dance, if it is theater, if it is singing, if it is performance, if it’s a circus… I don’t care about that. I mean, what I feel I do are stage events, right? So, whatever I need, I’m going to put it on stage. And well that’s the way I work. In other words, I try to get into the heads of the interpreters to get personal stories from them, because, in addition, I consider it the most efficient way to access their emotional states. And this is where I close this idea that I mentioned earlier, I am interested in a piece that moves me and for me to be moved, the dancer has to feel, because no matter how well the piece is, if the dancer does not feel or the artist presence; nothing happens to me and if nothing happens to me, I get bored. I mean, sorry, but I get bored! Right? And when I say that the dancer feels, because I say, we all feel, maybe the dancer feels nervous. Well, yes, but that doesn’t move me. In other words, for me it is to experience that the dancer enters an altered state of consciousness and emotional, in a particular state of body that is totally full of that fictitious or truthful character that they are creating there and then that moves me. And that is what I seek to do. That is what I try to do. I do not always achieve it but that is what I am somehow looking for. So, it is like combining all this, what I have just told you, this obsession, these personal stories of the performers I work with, these personal stories of mine, ehhh, anything, stage performance; and then try on the other hand how to access as real emotional states that pass to the viewer and that the viewer can relate not only with what he is seeing, but with what he is perceiving, with what he is thinking, with what he is listening, with what he is… if I can make a taste in their mouth, as in the Corpo Gourmet show, well, that too! I mean, trying to permeate all your senses in all aspects, right? So, more or less, that’s the way I work. And out there did you tell me about something else, what do I do when it doesn’t work when I’m frustrated…?

S: Yes, when you find a creative barrier or something that is not letting it flow, what do you do to break it and say, well, I’m going to take another path, I’m going to…? I dont know..

O: Well, look, just as I told you that the creative act is always different according to the work and the people I work with. But I tell you what happened to me in one of the last pieces. I did a play called Alchemy for the Seven Elements, and it was a commission, I was hired to do a play with students at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. And for the first time in my life I auditioned. There were, I don’t know how many, 250 people there at the audition. I mean, I had never done that in my life, I had never worked auditions. So, you always start working with someone and that’s it, right? But then I had to audition here. We were like 6 choreographers and everyone there choosing there and here, and well. Finally, I chose seven wonderful, fantastic dancers, very different from each other. It was a very, very diverse casting. And we started doing that work. We talked about death, about their experiences with death and about their absurd and implausible stories and I started to build some very complex, very beautiful characters. But sure enough, after 2 weeks, I had 3 weeks of creation residency, and after two weeks, I had all the pieces of the puzzle but didn’t know what to do with them. And I said, ‘What the hell am I doing with these pieces?’ So I said, ‘So what now?’ And I was totally blocked, that is, I didn’t know what to do. And well I don’t know, life sends you things, right? Although I am skeptical, I say it again, ‘life sends you things.’ And I was looking, literally, where I was staying, I was looking at Instagram and I saw a David Lynch Master Class. I’m a fan of David Lynch, a total fan of David Lynch. I love what he does, the way he builds, and I said, ‘Go, I’m going to take that Masterclass,’ because it was one of (laughs) ‘How to open Creativity’, right? (more laughter) And literally, that’s what fixed me. I mean, no, no no, fantastic! I mean, seeing him… And it wasn’t just him! Because after his, I saw Chef Ramsay‘s, right? With all the cooking, and the chef… And the level of passion that these individuals speak with, it’s impressive! The way David Lynch moves his fingers. I don’t know. And he said, ‘Let’s see, let’s see, gentlemen…!’ That is, David Lynch said something that I always do and it seems fundamental to me, ‘… is that one as an artist, creator, choreographer, cinema, whatever; they have to have a space where the cell phone is not next to them, where there is nothing to do, where you have an hour or two to sit down with nothing but time to write on paper with a pen and that’s it.’

S: Right.

O: But how many times do we do that? I mean, we are…

S: Exactly.

O: Can I say swear words here? Yes right?

S: Yes, of course.

O: I mean, we go around everywhere and, more and more! More and more we are here and less and less time we really have to sit down for 2, 3 hours to just let the ideas flow. Not even create because later, we already have to create and we are already doing the planning but, you are already doing the scholarship project, so the idea is that you put it and you are putting it in the dossier, and then you are already like the scholarship, and the Call, and as you were on the computer, the ‘tuing tuing’ sounded to you: you already have mail, and now we have connected messenger and whatsapp, and you are doing a thousand things…. That’s not working, is it? So, all these wonderful electronic media, the internet, etc, they are fantastic. And I say, it is not by the electronic means itself, it is by distraction, by not delving into the possibility of thought. When I saw that about, which David Lynch suggested, I remembered the people in Mazatlán. When we arrive in Mazatlán, and it is still happening, people go out at 6 in the afternoon, in their rocking chair, on their porch, to just be, to be! You don’t go out to do anything other than be. And we don’t do that anymore. Leisure time is one of the most fundamental times that the human being can have and above all, the artists that we intend to create, and I speak of that word, we intend to create, right? We no longer do it. There is no longer that leisure time. So, that’s what I did. I put the cell phone aside. I made a notebook and I just started to let ideas flow. David Lynch says something that is fundamental, and he is like a guru, the guy, but he spoke of, “It is like sitting in the sea and throwing the fishing rod, and waiting.” And wait for the fish to bite! Wait for the idea to bite, not to force the idea. You have to wait, that is, you have to set the necessary environment… but if you are driving and watching the cell phone, that is, the fish nibbles and you don’t even realize it, right? So, it is throwing, obviously everything has to be like that place to be able to really cast that fishing rod and let some idea bite, right? And that’s where I was able to solve those things. And now, when at any moment that I have as spaces of frustration where something does not come out, or I do not know how to solve that, it is to leave the cell phone, go for a walk, and I do not even want to walk, come to a place to sit at do nothing, you have to have a place to write, right? I mean, and just wait. Now wait for ‘the muse to come’, right? Well, that’s it.

S: Yes, yes, it seems that waiting… I mean, just as if there are people who are not so related to art or, precisely, to creation, this may sound like doing nothing, right? But the mind continues working and it is a state like, very peculiar where suddenly, everything makes sense, this you say, of the leisure space that is nothing more important for artists or creators, but for people …

O: For the human being!

S: Yes, for people’s mental and emotional health. But in this world that we have created, especially in big cities, technology, we no longer conceive of ourselves without a cell phone, without the immediacy of the internet, or when the internet is slow, it is desperate to wait for the page to load. And it is when you realize how little patience you exercise. You become dependent on quick reactions, immediate reactions …

O: Totally! And now if we transpose that to our current situation, that is one of the great gifts that COVID has brought, sorry to say it. They are the positive and wonderful things that have come with this madness of the virus, the quarantine and others. That is, we have had time to stop. Sure, there are people who don’t and don’t stop being connected, right? But look, I was talking to my students in Prague and I was telling them, and also with the Director of the Duncan Center, that is, people need time right now to reflect on these things: about identity, about what is important in life, no? I mean, I’m going to be and, that is, the deadlines and crazy things are starting, right? How to present a job online that I’m going to tell you in a while, and do a video dance, and there we ask for that, we lost that space. In other words, we enter a wonderful space of creativity, but everything is Yin Yang, one cannot say that this leisure is also the most wonderful in the world. No, also creativity and madness, and the deadline, and the ‘ahhhhhhh!’ Producing like this with this madness is that… It is that, what I feel is that there are no good or bad things. Things are, and it has a positive and a negative part. But to a large extent, that balance like that, that leisure, that patience that you mention, because it is very forgotten and very carried away, right? We have become very dependent. And the truth is that I feel that this quarantine has brought us a great gift, to many, I tell you. I do not think that everyone has taken it that way. There are many people who have been very desperate and others have had more work, but this time of being with your partner. Which we have had the wonderful opportunity to do it. Or with yourself because although we are together, I am with myself and she with herself, worth the redundancy, right? (Laughter) ‘I am with me and she is with her.’ And that has been as wonderful, that is, I do feel like a great gift in this pause of the, of the whirlwind of life. Notice that one of the things that I have reflected on – and it is something that I want to add to that, your first question of, who is Omar? And it has also been part of the reflections that I have had like in this time of being here quiet, who is Omar? Well Omar is also the result of all the people who have gone through my life and all the experiences I have had; positive, negative, all. I mean, I am the result of all that. So, I am really very happy for all those people who have crossed my life and those who have done me good and those who have done me wrong. Because those who have done me wrong have also done me good at the same time. That is, I repeat again, there is no evil or good, but rather but everything they have done to me. It has affected me positively or negatively to take me to the place where I am, and this place where I am the truth this little mother, the truth I feel very well, I feel very happy. If I am worried about the financial situation but that is, it is going to be solved and also I do not know, one has the ability to be adaptable, permeable, creative, to solve it. But thanks to all the people who have passed through me, it is that I am where I am and each one of those people become fundamental tools in my life. Ehh, precisely because they lead me to be where I am. And it not only has to do with my great teachers who trained me, but also, with each one of the people with whom I have collaborated, each one of the people with whom I have spent time, with whom I have come across in the street and there has been, maybe, only one word. Those people also make me who I am, right? Obviously, some people make a much bigger difference, but they all have as a brand, as an influence within your life. In that sense, I am also very grateful, right? I mean, everything is connected and that’s wonderful, everything is connected! So what are we? We are the result of our entire network of people and experiences, and that seems to me as fascinating because to that extent, there is tremendous value in each of the experiences and each of the people who have crossed our lives. That has been one of the reflections that have happened or right now… In other words, everything that has to happen in one person, so that you meet another: it is giant, wonderful, and tremendously grateful for that.

S: Yes, it is fascinating and it is a beautiful idea. In addition, I think that understanding it a little more for that sense could give us… it’s like a paradigm shift too, understanding life from different positions gives you a greater breadth of vision and I think it’s beautiful. Speaking of which, tell us now, what are you and what are you putting together and right now? And how has this adaptability and technology played to generate what you are creating right now? And what is coming for after? I know that we are still in a critical situation but this is going to happen, at some point it is going to happen. What’s up ahead?

O: Well, in this adaptability, the first thing that happened was to continue with our work, right? I was teaching online and Angie was also teaching her CENDA students, there in Bogotá, Colombia, and I with my students at the Duncan Center. And well, we originally had a research residence to work on a piece called ‘La Rieta.’ We had a residence in Prague, a residence in Zagreb, Croatia and a residence in Amsterdam to be able to make this piece. And since we already had a series of guidelines from last year, we began to talk, talk and with the same idea of, I express my concerns, what I think, what my interests and ideas are, I do that when there is a collaboration at the same time, when it is not me who rides, but we are riding together, because what are my interests, what are hers, what are our mutual concerns and try to put them on the table and try to mix them, combine them and try find common interests, and also those that are so common to us but that can have meeting points. And we started from last year, to investigate the facts of gambling, analyzing what happens in a couples relationships, when you are in a relationship and you put everything, or what you sacrifice and what you give, what do you give without realizing it. So, in these investigations regarding couples relationships, because we did not go to a casino, we began to analyze auctions too, we began to find analogies of what a couples relationships mean. ‘So we already had this concern and we were already in that process, and here (in Mexico City), as we began to investigate things, we began, on the texts that we had. We began to do body investigations, emotional investigations, investigations, all of a sudden, a friend with whom I worked in Panama speaks to us, his name is Carlos Algecira and Hernán Gariglio. Carlos is from Colombia, Hernán is from Argentina. They both live in Panama and I worked with them in 2018, doing Corpo Gourmet, which is a show I did in Panama with the Prisma Festival. I collaborated with them in one of the Corpo Gourmet scenes and they called me to see if I wanted to do something with them. They developed a theater platform called Project Actinio, which is an online, live theater platform. The thing is that they developed this platform, they invited me and I told them I am here with Angélica, she is a performing artist, wonderful, and then we are already like an investigation and we started with this collaboration. The first thing was to see the works that they were already presenting online. I saw about three works. We began to speculate. We sat down to think. We took the time to wait. We spent about three weeks while we closed our classes with Prague and Bogotá, thinking and eventually we got to the point where we already had the idea and conceived the entire script. Carlos, who is the actor, told us, “No No no no !, I need a real script, I need a script written for the texts.’ And there you see me and Angélica, investigating how to write a script, right? So, we started writing a complete script. Obviously it was in collaboration with them, with Hernán, with Carlos. We presented them with ideas. They also gave ideas to us. It was how to write a script, and to begin to also imagine all the technological possibilities. What do we have? This house, we live on this roof. Ok, what else do we have? Well we have cell phones, iPads, computers. What’s up? A theater platform. How does Zoom work? Well, all the possibilities of Zoom, how the cameras, microphones, etc, etc. work. How does the platform work? Carlos is there, Hernan is there, we are here. How do we rehearse? Well let’s do this and this, and like this, start to adapt to what we had, give a deep investigation of how each of these things work. In other words, we are not actors, we never studied theater, we do it from what we know how to do, right? And so writing a script, we have never written a script. How do we do it? Well, from what we are, well, we do it. Ehh, how do we use Zoom? Because also from what we are, what we have, and what we can investigate. I am a freak of technological research, seeing all the possibilities, Hernán also communicated all the possibilities of the platform and we began to develop this work; until we premiere them and like any work we do, to continue working on it and to continue investigating and developing it. In other words, the work is not finished, the piece is there and every time we present it, we make many changes because we are interested in what the public says. So we asked people what they thought, if they have doubts, comments, and from what they tell us, we are working on tightening up in the piece. And simultaneously with this, I speak with Jaciel Neri, he invites me to a platform that they were doing at the CEART Multipurpose Theater in San Luis Potosí, where they were presenting pre-recorded works, that is, small stage actions at home but they were pre-recorded, already edited. He invites me, I say, ‘well, I am collaborating with Angélica and we are already working together, and we are going to do a video dance, a short film.’ And at the same time to be doing La Subasta. So we got to do an exploration on the same subject, but with very different approaches and we started filming here, we also did everything; the storyboard, the whole script, we were also working on one idea, other idea, combined ideas, and we started recording and that’s what we did. Now we continue and have presentations again of La Subasta, and then surely we will also do some other project.

S: It is true. You are exploring … that is, this fact of the pandemic that is completely historical in humanity…

O: Yes

S: … represents a push to see other possibilities and indeed, it is the spearhead to continue exploring from it and understand technology more, and see how it can be used to benefit what is being proposed and go for it. Perfecting. I think of course, going to a show and seeing it live will continue to be valued, but also, that is, as a spectator, and it is very strong that I say it, because of course, it is terrible that you go, you appear in a theater and it is half empty, or half full, or a full room, but also the experience of being at home with all the comfort, you know? I mean, yes, I like it! And it confronts you and makes you reflect in front…

O: How crazy! Right?

S: … in front of your proper practice. I think that is something that does indeed continue to develop and we are going to see very crazy and interesting things…

O: Yes

S: … as long as they continue to be done. Omar, what do you think of criticism, and why do you consider it important or not important?

O: Well, it seems fundamental to me. In fact, I have a problem in life, which, at the same time, I consider to be my greatest virtue, which is that I question everything and in that questioning there is criticism. I think, for me. Ehh, for me it is fundamental. In fact, I invite people to the play to say, ‘I am interested in you telling me what you think, but clearly!’ In other words, you can tell me, ‘I like this and this and this, or this part is very cool but this, I did not understand anything, that is, tell me, what’s up with this?’ Because if not, how …? In other words, it is as from your experience, the public… I am of the idea that art, one of the things it has as its characteristic, is the closing of the circle between the artist who expresses and the public that perceives that. I, personally, for me but well, there will surely be people who consider the opposite and open the controversy between what is art and what is not art, but I, start dancing in the bush alone, not for me, that does not give me anything, that is, I do not consider it as art. For me art, one of the characteristics it has is when that circle is closed with the public. When effectively what you want to express, you transmit it and the other person receives it good, bad, from their experience, from your tastes, etc, etc. That this is very clear, people perceive through what it is, what we were talking about a while ago, who am I? My experiences, my past, my people and everything. So, for me the criticism seems fundamental to me, but a criticism… that is, it is very crazy, people who are used to not saying things because we take it very personally and that is normal because when you are creating, it is like a child, right? They tell you something about your child and you take it, but oops!!!! Super personal, right? So, it’s like that not accepting with criticism, from wherever it comes from, and for me it’s the opposite. I love to be told, ‘Hey, what did you think of this? You like me? You do not like me? Ahh, why?’ Because, because someone likes or dislikes your piece does not mean that your piece is good or bad. They are just giving you their point of view and from that truthful point of view, because it comes from their truth, right? You don’t need to be a mega-educated person or the expert or anything, or yes, whoever, but they give you that information and… It is that as artists, we only like to receive the good but the truth is that the bad, also makes you rethink certain things, or reaffirm something. If someone says to you, ‘not because of this and this, and this’, that’s good! Because that’s exactly what I’m looking for. So, criticism seems to me as fundamental, is that I believe that the word critical must be removed, it is like truthfulness. But when you don’t like something, you leave the theater before so you don’t have to say anything, right? Because you don’t know if the person is going to receive it or not. I love being told, you know? I do not know, that is what I think of criticism, criticism seems fundamental to me, and it seems very relevant to me and more than a question of criticism, it seems to me that this is what I am telling you; be honest and be able to receive the honesty of the other, considering that the honesty of the other person does not mean that it is the truth. It is your truth, and I read from that truth, right?

S: Look, this last section is for quicker questions. In general with more concrete answers.

O: Come on, throw them at me!

S: Are you ready? Okay. Music album, composer or favorite song.

O: This, I don’t know, I like Joaquín Sabina, right? Outfield, when I danced when I was 14 years old. The hacks and cloak. I don’t know.

S: Ok. Favorite movie.

O: Favorite movie, Mulholland Drive, by David Lynch.

S: Work created by another colleague who has marked you.

O: Let’s see, The Lovers of Víctor and Claudia Lavista, obviously start a career, ehh, they modify my trajectory. M Babylon, created by Victor Ruiz, a very important work for me. Claudia Lavista’s ‘Basement’ which is the first piece I dance in. A moment of a piece called La Mesa de Vladimir Rodriguez, made with the Cortocinesis Company; that I saw an excerpt of the whole piece in an encounter and that it was where we met and from there, in that encounter because life changed. Staff of La Intrusa, brutal! Fantastic piece! Wonderful! Hey, Juana by Michael Foley, also a fundamental piece that moves me and changes a lot of things. Ehh, and of the latter, it is called Gossip by Lenka Vagnerová.

S: Favorite book or reading.

O: Favorite book or reading. Sofía’s book is a story about philosophy. I liked that book a lot. Essay on Blindness by Saramago… it has a lot of truth. There is a book by Sabina Berman, I just don’t remember the name… I loved it, that talks about tuna, that book is fantastic but I don’t remember the title. Those are arts-like books, you know? But I am also a very reader of science. I’m already spreading, you see? Sorry!…

S: No, no, you are going!

O:…. There is a book called Julstro, it is a myofascial therapy book, which for me is fundamental for many things and for all the treatment of the legs, and of all these things, ehhh, well, there are some books there. The flashes of death, also from Saramago, I love. Fragments of an Unknown Teaching and Psychology of the Possible Evolution of Man, by Ouspensky.

S: What could you share that has been very bad advice given to you and one that has been wonderful?

O: A bad advice that they have given me… What happens is that even that bad advice, has served me but, a bad advice that they have given me? Ehhh, is that I think they have not given me bad advice. Well, I’m going to say, not bad advice, but rather as information, which has marked things that have been negative in my life, right? A little more like bullying, right? I mean, like do you have skinny bowed legs, right? That was very strong and it marked many things. And good advice, is that there are many of those. There is good advice, many. And many of those tips weren’t for the best, said directly. I remember very well when I saw Víctor Ruiz dance, and it was not a piece of advice that he gave me, but I learned his every move, even his blinking in a play. When I saw him dance ‘Trio and Cord’, I was totally fascinated. And I learned each of the movements of everything I want, I did it and the moment I had to dance it because he got hurt, he already knew the piece was complete, right? Even to the blink of an eye. So I don’t know if it was advice, but it was something that invited me to make a chameleon. I feel that one of the things that I have in my life is that I am a chameleon. I am very good at copying. I am very good at becoming the other person then, because I did that for a long time in my life. Ehhh, important advice is, live! In other words, the most important thing you have to do in your life is to live it intensely. The best advice is from my mother who keeps giving it to me and gives it to me every day. My mom tells me, “Behave badly!” And misbehaving means living intensely and letting yourself be carried away by passion, and by what you want and…. I mean, life, you have to live it intensely and you have to… I don’t know. There are like many tips, many tips. This is difficult Stephanie.

S: What stigma do we have to overcome as a society?

O: Let’s see, there are several. One of them is, not as a society, but as a guild. I feel that one of the things that is very strong and very heavy is that we artists believe that our art saves the world. And I think that has a certain part and an untrue part, but also, it puts us in a responsibility that… don’t worry, life can sometimes be a little bit simpler and simpler. And I don’t consider myself coming to save the world, really. I mean, excuse me for saying it, but I don’t feel that what I do is going to save the world and that what I do is so important that you are saving the world. No. But sometimes I feel that when one enters like that channel, because one stops seeing other things as a human being and that before being an artist, one is a human being, right? That is on the one hand, and the other is therefore honesty with oneself. I don’t know, that’s like something I’ve learned in recent years and I feel that sometimes it’s very difficult to be honest with yourself, precisely because of the stereotypes that we buy from life, as much as being an artist, the couple, what they are supposed to be or not to be. And to that extent, it is difficult for us to be honest with what we are feeling and it is difficult for us to communicate it, precisely because we are not within those stereotypes. So, I don’t know, I feel that… There is a fantastic book! And I am going to add this one because that is fundamental, Homosapiens, a brief history of humanity by Yuval Noah Harari. And this book is fundamental because it allows us to see, through this history of humanity and Homo sapiens, why we are where we are, what it is that characterizes us as a species, as a human being, and what the future holds for us as well, and a series of very interesting things. But I mention this because suddenly, we believe that our truth is the truth. And one thing that is essential to realize is that the truth that we believe to be the truth is this truth, and there is another person who has another radically opposite answer, that is, 180 degrees of opposition to what you are thinking, and has the reason! And that person is right, just like you! Although they are opposite because both are seeing their reality from different angles. So, I feel that the capacity and the possibility of assuming… And that does not mean that we do not respect our own truth but, I feel that to the extent that we respect and accept a truth totally opposed to ours, it allows us to be a little more tolerant and that, because I think it is as fundamental. Your question was complex, I don’t know if I answered it.

S: Yes, it is true. No, no, it’s amazing. Ehh, a tip that you learned over the years and you would have liked to know when you started.

O: Ehh, I would seriously say that they read Yuval Noah Harari’s book. The one about Homosapiens. Because one of the things that you have to learn -as a human being-, you have to learn is adaptability. The previous idea that we had that what you studied and what you did, you were going to do all your life, that is, right now, right now, something totally obsolete. Because I say, right now we are being questioned who we are. You are not a performing art artist right now, you are not a teacher going to teach. Right now you are not that. So the most important thing is to have great adaptability and permeability. And that is mentioned by Yuval in that book, and the advice he gives to the new generations and what is going to happen in the future. In other words, we are right now in a moment of total uncertainty, we are experiencing a situation in the world that is totally uncertain. So if we don’t have the capacity to adapt and to learn new things, we are lost. So, the most important thing for anyone, not just for who wants to be a stage artist, I think for anyone is to be a great learner. Not entrepreneurial, learner. In other words, one has to be a teacher in learning. And always have the ability to learn and learn new things. And that they are totally different and distant from what you do, because that is what at some point can save you in this world that changes at brutal speed. And the ability to adapt has been progressive for us and that is why we continue within this possible adaptability. Because what is going to happen in 2030, we do not have the remotest idea, we cannot even predict it. So what is going to happen with our work? If a year ago they had told you, ‘Hey, there won’t be theaters for a year!’ I mean, do you understand me? And what has allowed us to continue is, this initiative that you have, right? To continue making these podcasts, that is, to continue within the work. And you have had to learn how to do it. And if I would advise the person who is beginning in the performing arts, it is having the possibility of learning and being adaptable to whatever comes and that implies being a great learner, that is, learning to learn. The most important thing that all people have to learn right now is how to learn.

S: Yes, completely agree. If today they told you that you cannot make more art or anything related to what you do, with creation, with art, with dance, what would happen to Omar?

O: What would happen to Omar? No, well, many things. I mean, I like many things. Right now I am passionate about horticulture. Ehh, because I would find a way to adapt to other things, that is, the truth is that ever since I was little I liked science a lot, I love carpentry, I have my tools here, I love interior design, minimalist spaces, like I love the whole organization, the architecture. I love studying, I would have no problem studying a new career. Sure, I would need the funds, right? To be able to do it. But then if they said to me, ‘No, performing art is over!’, I feel that he will use all these creative capacities to do other kinds of things. I mean, I don’t know, I have as many hobbies that I could take them on a professional level, and I refer to it as a ‘professional level’ to get a financial advantage out of it. I love graphic design, but you say it can’t be anything related to art, because I couldn’t do that. But I would advertise, it would continue like that.

S: In the end it is a creative exercise and then there are many areas that are incredible, but I think the key, we will return to the same thing, is that you are passionate about something, you enjoy it, right?

O: That! That! Key person also in life and great counselor, Patricia Cardona and now that you said that, is that whatever you do you have to do it with an excessive passion, it is very difficult for me not to teach. And I have the ability to generate methodologies to teach anything. Whatever I learn, I can teach it. So, I could also do that, that is, I could give a course on how to make a Koi Carp pond.

S: Well, now to close this part. If you had the possibility of knowing the answer to an absolute truth of a question or something that makes you curious, what would it be?

O: What happens is that I don’t believe in that question that you are asking me? I don’t think there is an absolute truth. I mean, the truth is that I love uncertainty. That’s why I love improvisation, because I love uncertainty. I love living in uncertainty. I mean, I don’t want to know the truth of what is there after death because what I love is investigating about it. If they told me the answer, I would no longer have to investigate and I would get very bored and a question as strong, I do not know. And besides, I don’t think there is an absolute truth. I think there are as many possibilities as there are beings on this earth, so I don’t believe in absolute truths and I wouldn’t want, even if there were, to know them because the world would become very boring, I think. For me, at least.

S: No, very good. I love it. Very well Omar, well thank you very much, for sharing with us the way you understand the world, the way you live, the way you exercise your profession, to know a little more about that crazy little head that is there and then nothing, that on behalf of PROArtes, on behalf of Peter and me, we thank you very much!

O: No, well thank you very much for the invitation and for proposing me there among these 10 selected ones. I say, how cool they are interested! I don’t know who is interested in listening to what I have to say, but those who are interested are well and if the people who are going to hear this, obviously have comments, if they have doubts, questions, things that you do not agree with, I would love to know, that is, you can find me on social networks and send me a message. I am interested if what I am saying does not seem to you or if it seems terrible, I would love you to tell me, right? Equal the things that you agree, that’s cool; because I think that from that if my ideas go with yours and you have another and there a new one is going to be generated, it would be great to know it, then, how cool. Thank you very much Stephanie for inviting me! Thank you Peter too! Thank you all for generating this space, good that you had this initiative and will too! Thank you to each and every person who has passed through my life, that take me to where I am right now! And obviously and right now thank you very much directly for this.

S: We thank Omar for being our interviewee #10. We invite you to know more details of your projects at www.omar-carrum.com. We also thank all those who have tuned in to us. With this interview we close our first season of the ‘Aqui&Allá’ podcast, ‘conversations with creators of contemporary art from MX and USA.’ And we invite you to stay tuned for the launch of our next season.

References:

DELFOS Danza Contemporánea: https://delfosdanza.org/
Bates Dance Festival: https://www.batesdancefestival.org/
FONCA: https://fonca.cultura.gob.mx/
Beca Guggenheim: https://www.gf.org/
“Fifth Wall”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tso4LvZTYQs&feature=youtu.be
Dutch Rall: https://dutchrall.com/
Short Film Corner: http://www.cannescourtmetrage.com/en/short-film-corner/quisommesnous/presentation
CANNES: http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/
Agite y Sirva: https://www.agiteysirva.com/
Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán: https://delfosdanza.org/epdm/
Estudio de Danza Ema Pulido: http://www.emapulido.com/
Víctor Ruiz: https://delfosdanza.org/victor-manuel-ruiz-becerra/
Claudia Lavista: https://delfosdanza.org/claudia-lavista/
Worldrobed: http://omar-carrum.com/worldrobed-1
Duncan Center: https://www.duncancentre.cz/en/about/
Cortocinesis: https://www.cortocinesis.com/cortocinesis
Proyecto Detonos: https://www.angiedetonos.com/espacioenlaaccion
Angélica Acuña: https://www.angiedetonos.com/angiedetonos
Escorporarte: http://omar-carrum.com/escorporart-1
Vladimir Rodríguez: https://www.cortocinesis.com/vladimirrodriguez
Escrito Absurdo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Gn_fiFdqo
Continuum: http://omar-carrum.com/continuum-1
Ema Pulido: http://www.emapulido.com/ema-pulido-semblanza/
Salón Riviera: http://www.cronica.com.mx/notas/2002/6950.html
Michael Jackson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson
Paula Abdul: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Abdul
Roberto Robles: http://gastv.mx/opinion-roberto-robles-un-ano-de-ausencia/
UNAM: https://www.unam.mx/
Virginia Fábregas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_F%C3%A1bregas
Foro Shakespeare: https://www.foroshakespeare.com/
Michael Foley: https://www.batesdancefestival.org/about/faculty/michael-foley/
Civilization of the Spectacle: https://camel76.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/civilization-of-the-spectacle-mario-vargas-llosa/
Vargas Llosa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Vargas_Llosa
The Invasion of the Barbarians: https://www.goodreads.com/de/book/show/24058858-the-barbarians
Alessandro Baricco: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Baricco
Oliver Sacks: https://www.oliversacks.com/
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ocd/what-is-obsessive-compulsive-disorder
Tourette Syndrome: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tourette-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20350465
La Intrusa: http://www.laintrusadanza.com/
Virginia García: https://www.danza.es/multimedia/biografias/virginia-garcia
Damián Muñoz: https://www.danza.es/multimedia/biografias/damian-munoz
Lenka Vagnerová: https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en/profile/lenka-vagnerova-1607483
Corpo Gourmet: https://vimeo.com/390626398
Alchemy for the Seven Elements: https://vimeo.com/391820348
University of Utah: https://www.utah.edu/
David Lynch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch
Chef Ramsay: https://www.gordonramsay.com/
Prisma Festival: https://www.festivalprisma.com/
Proyecto Actinio: https://en.proyectoactinio.com/
Jaciel Neri: https://www.jacielneri.com/bio
CEART: http://centrodelasartesslp.gob.mx/ceart/Inicio/?CFID=981125&CFTOKEN=4faa39a58d2264da-454B6023-155D-6419-621A2253E09DC7FC
Joaquín Sabina: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Sabina
Outfield: https://theoutfield.com/
Mulholland Drive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulholland_Drive_(film)
La Mesa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zvs-m7yMgc&feature=youtu.be
Staff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMB-Ia3jJw0
Juana: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91RJcq7NnSg
Gossip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5bsFIgxyA4
Sofia’s Book: https://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718
Essay on Blindness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindness_(novel)
Saramago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago
Sabina Berman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabina_Berman
that talks about tuna, that book is fantastic: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13538344-me-who-dove-into-the-heart-of-the-world
Julstro: https://julstromethod.com/
Death with Interruptions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_with_Interruptions
Fragments of an Unknown Teaching: https://www.amazon.com/Search-Miraculous-Fragments-Teaching-ebook/dp/B00865C2OS
Psychology of the Possible Evolution of Man: https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Mans-Possible-Evolution/dp/0394719433
Ouspensky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Ouspensky
Homosapiens, a brief history of humanity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapiens:_A_Brief_History_of_Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari: https://www.ynharari.com/
Patricia Cardona: https://www.patriciacardona.net/biografiacutea.html
Koi pond: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koi_pond

HOME – PODCAST – SHOP

PROArtes México

Your cart (items: 0)

Share this:

Like this: