Choreography explores the transition between opposing emotions and experiences

At work Chiaroscuroactress and dancer María Fernanda Baez reflects on the duality inherent in the human condition by exploring light and darkness, grief and hope, pain and pleasure. The piece is presented this weekend at the Cuauhtémoc Theater in Naucalpan, in the state of Mexico.

In an interview, the creator and founder of the Luz y Sombra company explains that the choreographic proposal is based on how we navigate emotions and human experiences that are opposite. “It is born from a personal need to explore the dualities that we all face: the light that drives us and the shadow that challenges us.”

In the piece that premiered in 2024, the public will be able to contemplate the opposing forces that coexist in the same body.

Chiaroscuro It is divided into the segments The Road, The Dance of Light, The Party, The Shadows, The Void and The Flowers. Through which, the performers Rosa Villanueva and María Fernanda Baez take the audience from the luminous memories of childhood, full of play and innocence, to the encounter with the shadow, where darkness and pain take shape.

“They are very light movements, with nods to the games we played. In the shadow part you feel the pain and we do a lot of contact work, there is a part in which we have our eyes closed, we load ourselves and let go,” says the actress and dancer.

For Baez, the most important thing is that the public feels all those emotions, “that something stirs them within their being and that when they leave they experience a change from how they entered. The reason why we do this is because there are situations in the world that are not pretty and my mission as an artist is to bring a little beauty to people and for them to spend a moment of contemplation and introspection.”

The choreographic process was developed from improvisations, stage exercises and the symbolic use of 20 tons of rice as a representation of a desert, and culminates with the message that even in the harshness of life, beauty emerges as a wound that reminds us that we are alive.

The work is part of the IMSS-Cultura Scenarios program, an initiative that promotes the work of creators and reactivates new forums.

“This initiative gives us the opportunity to keep our piece alive and show it to new audiences. I feel very lucky because it was a very competitive call and we had the privilege of performing on these stages,” comments the artist.

Chiaroscuro It is presented on Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Cuauhtémoc Theater, Naucalpan, state of Mexico. Then they will have performances at the Isabela Corona Theater (central axis Lázaro Cárdenas 445, Tlatelolco) on February 6 at 11 a.m. and the following two days at 4 p.m.