'Nosotras': the show that separates the public into women and men to explode the history of art

It is said that history does not lie, but it is known that it depends on who tells it. If the act of telling, furthermore, hovers around art and women, or women in art, sin appears by omission. And the invisibility, the null or deformed presence and the veto that women have suffered throughout time are the backbone of

Nosotras

, a dance, theater and

performance

show that is presented at the Pradillo theater in Madrid from April 4 to 7 as stage revenge, separatist bomb and throwing weapon in which the audience, divided by gender, will participate in the play in different ways: them, in reserved seats in the first rows and even arranged on the stage, appetizer included; They, in the end, as mere spectators of a story in which this time they will not be able to participate.

“It is about returning to men the passive and invisible role that women have had in the history of art. Resignify the space that each and every one has had,” explains Mónica Runde (Madrid, 62 years old), creator and interpreter of this work together with Inés Narváez (Madrid, 41 years old), also the architect of the original idea. “We know that it may not be managed well, that there may be reluctance, but we hope that they will not be too offended,” says Narváez.

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The two choreographers and dancers, who in this work and for some time now at the head of the veteran company 10 & 10, link dance with video projections, musical composition, text, lighting and all the scenic artifacts available, will receive the public from the door and they will distribute to each other with the intention of excluding to point out; to differentiate to empathize. “Let the world of men experience in some way how a woman felt who wanted to dedicate herself to art and couldn't, and then they could and went unnoticed,” Runde declares. What if someone refuses? “Well, if he sits wherever he wants, he's not going to force anyone, of course. We'll see..." explains Narváez, who says she is prepared for any reaction, even if someone decides to leave the show. “At one point we ask them how they are. How are they doing, what does it feel like to know that you are out of something outstanding. And we are breaking down keys.”

Mónica Runde and Inés Narváez pose on the stage of the Pradillo theater in Madrid.INMA FLORES

Some of these keys are found in the books that occupy the work table of the creators who have been documenting themselves for two years. A couple of examples:

How to End Women's Writing

, by Joanna Russ, and

Great

Women

Artists

,

a multi-author publication published by Phaidon Press Limited. However, the main reason that gives rise to

Nosotras

is a question that Inés Narváez's father, the painter Manuel Narváez Patiño, threw into the air one afternoon in 1995 in his studio, with a 13-year-old Inés drawing next to her. . “My father spoke to himself when he painted. And that day I heard him ask himself: 'I don't understand why my female students, with much more talent than many of my male students, don't pursue a career.' Of course, at that moment the phrase just stuck out to me. Then he died when I was 17. And today I would like to present to you all the reasons or reasons why this has been happening. In a sense,

Nosotras

is the conversation with my father that I couldn't have.” Would you say that much progress has been made since 1995? “I think there is a

performance

of change, but the change itself I don't see as real. “I see women continually overwhelmed to achieve everything.”

Asked about these inequalities in the world of dance, Mónica Runde responds conclusively with an anecdote: “When Pedro Berdäyes left 10 & 10 [between 1989 and 2005 Berdäyes and Runde directed the company], some institutions questioned whether I could continue on alone. with the group. They didn't know that in addition to being co-director and creator, she also did production work and managed the economy." Currently, the core of 10 & 10 is made up of Mónica Runde and Inés Narváez along with Elisa Sanz and Beatriz Francos, who will not be able to be in this show due to scheduling reasons. They will be accompanied by a list of 1,010 women projected from the 15th or 20th minute of the play (the show lasts approximately one hour) and until long after the stage ends. Names of women in dance such as Agnes de Mille, Lucinda Childs, Trisha Brown and, now from the national scene, Carmen Werner, Janet Novás (best new actress award in the last Goya) or Poliana Lima are part of this scenic list in which Annie Ernaux, Rigoberta Bandini and Madonna also appear.

“Being a woman in the art world is like having to start from scratch almost continuously and prove your worth over and over again,” declares Mónica Runde regarding her presence on the scene, during the last 14 years, as a creator (unrecognized ) of sound and visual spaces of dance pieces. “I feel like I'm not given the opportunity to be taken seriously from those places.” Perhaps that is why, in

Nosotras

the artist also plays the piano, in addition to dancing. “Baila Runde, you have to legitimize the show and people have come to see you do that,” Narváez tells him in a rehearsal of the play. Then, Mónica Runde performs a fragment of

Petrus

, a 1996 work that overwhelms the scene.

Next May, the entire company (seven performers on stage) will also premiere at the Abbey Theater

YES SPOKE Zarathustra

, a dance and text piece with dramaturgy by the Bazo Brothers (created from Nietzsche's original text) in which we also reflect on non-gender and the power of dance, as Nietzsche himself predicted when he said “a day without dancing is a day wasted.”

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