cuerpalatina

Ongoing piece by Impropias Collective.

cuerpalatina is a participatory performance by Impropias Collective that takes audiences on a journey from separateness into a celebration of togetherness: what starts as a dance without interaction between performers and audiences becomes a collective and ephemeral fiesta. Facilitated by a host and three dancers, it lasts about thirty minutes. The piece challenges the strict gender-coded movements of traditional pair-dancing and fosters ephemeral spaces of conviviality and celebration through movement.

cuerpalatina has been presented at Finland Through Other Eyes Festival (31.7.2021, Maunula, Helsinki); Uniarts Fest (17.9.2022, Theatre Academy, Helsinki); the World Cities Culture Forum (5.10.2022, Amos Rex, Helsinki); and Y-festivaali (8.10.2022, Tiivistämö, Helsinki), and New Theatre Helsinki Festival Opening Gala (18.2.2023, Svenska Teatern, Helsinki).

Concept & direction: Mercedes Balarezo Fernández. Performers: Yes Escobar, Paola Nieto Paredes, Daniela Pascual Esparza. Costume design: Yes Escobar. Supported by: The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).

About Impropias Collective: Impropias is a Helsinki-based multidisciplinary art collective that explores Latin American identities from an embodied, situated, and feminist perspective. In Spanish, “impropia” is the female form for inappropriate, for something inadequate or untimely. It is also a play of words between “improvisation” and “propio”, which means cool and street-smart in Ecuadorian slang. Through our embodied knowledge, we reinterpret our cultural heritages and research dance as a social phenomena. Our practice disrupts spatial conventions, reinhabits public spaces, and fosters moments for conviviality, alterity, and celebration between diverse audiences. The collective was founded by Mercedes Balarezo Fernández, Yes Escobar, Paola Nieto Paredes, and Daniela Pascual Esparza in 2021.