SOY MADERA
Costume Designed for the piece “Soy Mader, La Teoria del No Parar”, a solo by Elelei Dance Company premiered in Portugal in May 2022. This is a solo dance performance acted by Sabrina Gargano, one of the two founders of this Barcelona based dance company alongside Rafael Jagat.
The piece’s aim is to approach anger as an initial trigger to movement, to which the creators connect the wood element and also to a rather female version of such emotion, in regards to the history of psychology. For a long time the women were believed to be creatures vulnerable to control loss due to hysteria, the ultimate bodily takeover by anger. With a movement quality that is both funny, involutary looking and very basal, Sabrina Gargano embodies this woman in her performance side by side to large wood sticks that complete the scene with various figures created by their disposition in space.
When it comes to costume, the idea was to represent the corset that the dancer frees herself from and freely circles in space. The intention was also to generate a contrast between a rather voluminous fabric on the top on its corseted version versus a lightness that comes through with a flowy fabric that is freed once its ties are loosened. The wood that is the base to that moving body is shown on the trousers with its wood marks. All comes together as a look via the waist detail added to the trousers formed by both fabrics, the trousers’ and the top’s lighter one, and calls attention to the dancers waist and pelvis, a very important body part that was to be brought out visually.
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“Soy Madera touches on the concept of anger towards difficulties as a driving force to never stop until the goal is achieved even if it leads to exhaustion.
My element in Chinese Medicine is Wood, it's associated with anger.
As a woman I struggled to accept this until I realised my anger is an infinite determination, is the engine, it's one of the ingredients of my existence.
I use 6 wooden poles. One weighs 8 kilos. Despite the effort and the tiredness to manipulate, the wood becomes the key search to be and breathe and finally to keep going again.”
Sabrina Gargano, in regards to Soy Madera.
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Idea and Realisation by: Elelei Dance Company
Creation by: Sabrina Gargano and Rafael Jagat
Musical Composition by: Alex Paton
Performance by: Sabrina Gargano
Dramaturgy by: Antonio Ramírez
Stage Design: Elelei Dance Company
Costume Design by: Gabriela Lotaif
Special Thanks to: Marce de Medeiros
Photography by: Carles Decors
Inspirational Moodboards and Drawings:
