Dance and theatre · Losdedae

Cenizas / En el desierto

Two collaborations between Guillem Clua, Pablo Messiez and the dance company directed by Chevi Muraday.

Madrid · 2013–2014

Bodies that resist and hold one another

In 2013 and 2014, Guillem Clua collaborated twice with Losdedae, the dance company directed by National Dance Award winner Chevi Muraday. The first production, Cenizas o dame una razón para no desintegrarme, premiered at La Casa de la Portera in Madrid in October 2013, with texts by Clua and Pablo Messiez. They both wrote the text for En el desierto, presented at Naves del Español / Matadero in Madrid in October 2014 and theatrically directed by Clua himself.

A sick man (Chevi Muraday) tries to escape the pressure exerted by his own mother (Alberto Velasco). Cenizas o dame una razón para no desintegrarme was created exclusively for La Casa de la Portera, but has since been staged in theatres that sought to remain faithful to the original idea, building a set that faithfully reproduces the now-vanished venue where it was conceived.

Muraday, the piece’s choreographer and artistic director, explores intimacy through the contact between bodies that reject one another but have no choice but to remain together. It is a physical approach to what is most intimate: two characters immersed in the virtually unbreakable universe of family, which leads them to mutual incomprehension. The ending overturns what came before and reflects on where emotional dependence takes hold. The texts by Pablo Messiez and Guillem Clua explore the characters’ deepest desires and thoughts.

Meanwhile, En el desierto once again combines dance and theatre to tell the story of seven characters moving between the two performing arts while clinging to a colossal structure. Directed by Guillem Clua, who again wrote the texts with Pablo Messiez, they are heading towards an uncertain place. They flee after being expelled from their home, crossing paths and finding one another along the way. They share one need: to resist. By supporting one another, they discover they can avoid disappearing. The cast included Ana Erdozain, Sara Manzanos, Chevi Muraday, David Picazo, Maru Valdivielso, Alberto Velasco and Ernesto Alterio.