As a systematization of the elements that enliven the imaginary of Jalisco from womenisms, it is like the anthropologist and performance artist Lukas Avendano defines lemniskatachoreography of his inspiration that will have its world premiere on July 8 and 9 at the Santander Performing Arts Ensemble in Guadalajara.
In a press conference, Igor Lozada, General Coordinator of Extension and Cultural Dissemination of the University of Guadalajara, pointed out that this piece is attached to the Culture and Health program of Culture UDG. “Dance to heal. This is how we started working with the production company MOVES to build an epicenter of contemporary dance in Jalisco”. And he affirmed that Lemniskata constitutes “the decisive step to begin the construction of a poetics as the epicenter of dance in Mexico.”
After twelve weeks of creative residency in Guadalajara, lemniskata It is presented as a heartfelt choreography for 14 male and one female dancers, which takes up the cosmovisions and traditions of the contemporary imaginary of Mexico. Its genesis is the concept of “Mujerismos = Muxerismos” revealed by the multiple symbols, territories and dances of Jalisco, and that are enunciated from the feminine.
Lukas Avendaño will present Lemniskata, a choreography of his inspiration. Photo EE: Courtesy UDG
An unprecedented dimension of the male nude
The muxe choreographer of Oaxacan origin, Lukas Avendaño, affirmed that the piece is the product of fieldwork in which people, chroniclers, managers and promoters were interviewed about the living heritage of Jalisco. What is shown “is the systematization of this heritage of Jalisco in each of its municipalities.”
Eleno Guzmán, scenic artist and general and artistic director of MOVES, commented that lemniskata it is the result of seven years of relationship with Lukas and that translates into this choreography. It was in 2021 that the cultural company founded in 2006 extended the invitation to Avendaño to direct his first large-format work. Today it is the main production of Epicentro, International Platform for Contemporary Dance. Punctually, Guzmán assured that lemniskata “it gives presence to male nudity in a dimension never before seen in Mexican dance.”
Early image of muxerismo
Avendaño acknowledged that part of the creative budget that led him to conceive this piece comes from his family history when he was barely five years old. “It was when Aunt Juana came back from Guadalajara wearing denim pants, a plaid shirt and her boots… Thus she affirmed the construction of her muxerismo. That made me imagine a Guadalajara that she wanted to know ever since.” Already in 2014, as academic coordinator of the RedeseArte Cultura de Paz program, Avendaño toured different community centers in the metropolitan area from where he also resumed experiences.
Photo EE: Courtesy UDG
hence then lemniskata collect in a poetic and symbolic way the muxerismos of the region. As examples, he mentioned the case of Mezcala. “When we arrived at the island of Mezcala I realized that part of the settlement was reticulated from volcanic stones. There, La Nola, the stone monolith where people usually go to bathe asking for rain, in addition to offering food, caught their attention. “I thought it was very powerful that there was a female stone monument, which is also referred to as the mother of all nolas.” Avendaño related it to the southern highlands of Oaxaca and to what is known as “The Woman’s Thing”, also a monolith in the shape of vaginal lips.
For her part, Verónica Rimada, Artistic Director of MOVES, informed that this choreography has the original music of Diego Martínez, belonging to the Escuela del Mariachi Antiguo de Jalisco Acatic; in addition to the collaboration of Jesús Ramírez, who designed the 14 tastoanes masks.
lemniskata It will have its world premiere on July 8, at 9:00 p.m. and on Saturday, July 9, at 7:00 p.m.; later it will begin a tour of Germany, and in October it will be presented at the Miguel Covarrubias Hall of the UNAM. It is a MOVES production in national co-production with the Santander Group of Performing Arts and Culture UDG. As an international co-producer is the KAMPNAGEL theater in Hamburg, Germany. In the words of Eleno Guzmán, KAMPNAGEL “made one of the most important economic contributions in the history of contemporary dance made in Mexico”; It will also host the European premiere in December this year.
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