welcome to one other small space for communication.

updates and recent news

• 2010.09.21 futuro
the coming weeks look very exciting: I will be in Amsterdam working with Diego Gil on the lighting for "Bsides" (shows in November in Amsterdam and next January in Salzburg) and rehearsing my "Piece about disappearance" for performances in Frascati WG (Amsterdam) in October and De Lieve Vrouw (Amersfoort) in November. for the shows in Amsterdam, Ingrid Berger Myhre won't be able to perform and I will take her place. it's an interesting challenge and an exciting next step in this work - to put myself at stake in the position of a performer and find out if it generates something new in the work. I will also be revisiting the lighting and video of the performance. I'm looking forward to having a few weeks of quiet work on not too many projects at the same time...

• 2011.09.21 back to the kiwkabds
on the train back the kiwkabds (or lowlands, when you type it with your right hand slightly mis-placed), more specifically, Amsterdam. after a lot of travelling in the summer I'm happy to spend some time at home.

• 2011.09.16 buzzing light year
looking back on what's passed of this year, it's been pretty busy. it's been so long since I last updated my website(s) that some retrospectives are in order. I was involved as a lighting designer in many performarnces this year, mostly in Amsterdam but also working at the Uferstudios in Berlin, Republic in Salzburg and Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris. besides the usual work for the SNDO in 4th year performances and the ITs Festival, this year for the first time I designed the lighting and did the technical coordination for the graduation performances and tour. I worked with William Collins for his latest choreographies "Child St*r" and "Total recall" (in collaboration with Anat Eisenberg) and with Simon Tanguy. the solo "Japan" proved very successful already before winning the ITs Festival Choreography award and we presented it in different venues and cities. the lighting for "Child St*r" created subtle changes in the landscape by creating accents related to the spacing of the choreography but dissociating them in time from the spatial evolution of the dancers. in "Japan" a heavy assymetry also introduced the idea of a lighting landscape. a cluster of red lights blinking alternatively on one spot accompanied the performer with a certain autonomy, playing visually along the musical and movement rhythms of the piece, adding to a sense of ritual, emphasizing sometimes the dancer's movement and creating sometimes movement on a static body.

• 2011.03.17 slimmer
slight change of format for the little images in this page... if that's not an update, where are the updates?

• 2010.11.09 cold autumn in Potsdam
this city turned out to be quite a beautiful place in autumn, though these days it got really cold. I'm finishing my residency here, working with William Collins until next sunday, when we go back to Amsterdam to work for 2 more weeks integrating the work I've done with William and the work I started with Ingrid Berger Myhre. please check the project's blog for a peek into the concepts and working process.

• 2010.10.27 in sadness
today Nestor Kirchner passed away. he was the former president of Argentina, prdecessor to his wife, the current (and first ever elected woman) president, Cristina Fernández. it's a very sad event that moves me deeply, like many other Argentineans and latinamericans. Nestor Kirchner came to power in 2003 in the midst of an economic crisis so deep that had left the country hopeless, immersed in a profound cynicism and in total negation of the Political. with his political courage, his stubborness, his unorthodox (politically incorrect) methods, his strategic intelligence and an admirable sense of social justice, he had a leading role in the process that has transformed Argentina in the last 7 years into a society with a vibrant political scene where those who hold power (politicians, media corporations, bussinessmen, clergymen) have been forced to unmask themselves and take position in the ideological arena. the governments of Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez adopted, maybe for the first time in 50 years, an inclusive and progressive model based in: the development of employment (unemployment dropped from 24% in 2002 to 8% in 2010); an abarcative and equalizing understanding of social security (from 55% elderly population collecting a pension in 2005 to 90% in 2010; the AUH and Conectar-Igualdad programs, distributing subsidies and educational infrastructure); a firm, non-compromising and thorough policy of defense of human rights (encouraging the prosecution of crimes against humanity in the Argentina of the '70s and maintaining a strict non-repression policy on demonstrations since 2003); the rebirth of the quasi dismantled syndicates and workers representation (particularly in the reopening of collective contract negotiations); strengthening bilateral relations with regional partners such as Brasil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Uruguay and others and participating actively in the discussion for the re-distribution of power and responsibility on the global level (questioning, for instance, the role and representation of the IMF). Argentina experienced an economic growth of around 7% to 9% in this period, while expanding its policies of growing social justice, contrary to the recipes and recommendations offered, yet another time, by institutions like the IMF and the US Treasury.
In times like these, when the UK is announcing big cuts '80s style (including, for example, firing 5000 employees from the state in the coming years), France is raising the retirement age by 2 years, Spain is announcing also budget cuts, Germany's chancellor announced the death of multiculturalism, The Netherlands are inaugurating a cabinet that promisses 20% cuts in culture (and includes a political leader that got elected by reviling Islam, muslim and immigrants in general), in these sad times, Europe would do well to look into the reality of South America in the last 8 to 10 years. In spite of what the main-stream media communicate, obeying the mandate of multinational bussiness and the status-quo of political and economic power relations between the "1st" and "3rd" world, there is a flourishing political combat worth of noticing and studying in all its flawed complexity. A left wing that has not become - or, better, has overcome its cynicism. There are better solutions than the Neo-liberal model of capitalization, accumulation and exclusion. There are options. Social justice is not a ridiculous idea.
I wanted to express my sadness for the death of Nestor Kirchner, not only because of the respect, admiration and love he inspired, but also to accompany his widow, Cristina Fernandez, who is still actively leading a thorough and rich political process. I had to think today how sad and tough it must be for her, and I had to hope that it won't mine her efforts. I think we need her. I think the world need people like her and her husband.
I'm happy that this could become more than just a remembrance and maybe serve as a revision and diffusion (if incomplete and simplified) of their work, our work, and of recent achievements that need to be defended.

• 2010.10.18 updates
I added to the 'writing' page some texts excerpted from the blog I wrote while I was in Japan. I added new fotos and reformatted the page 'images'. in a similar way I reformatted the page 'masks and objects' and added 2 new masks and some furniture. enjoy.

• 2010.10.04 news
a few days ago there was an attempt at a coup (an attempt to overthrow the government) in Ecuador. president Rafael Correa was held captive by policemen for about 12hs, while in other parts of the city and country police quarters were being occupied, anti-government militants stormed the public TV channel ECTV while it was broadcasting news about the attempt (prominently among them Pablo Guerrero, former lawyer of opposition party leader Lucio Gutierrez), a sector of the air force occupied Quito's national airport... it's not only worrying that it's the something like the 4th attempt in less that 10 years at overthrowing a democratic government in South America, particularly in countries members of the ALBA, but also that the media, political parties and institutions that stand for the satus quo and traditional economic powers in all of Latin America (and obviously the rest of the world) took a position, after failing in their attempt, to minimize the situation and call it a police insubordination, to relate it exclusively to a police wage claim. as if other, more ambitious and unscrupulous groups, hadn't tried to take the opportunity to overthrow a democratically elected president (with a stunning 51% majority) whose government has declared the foreign debt (acquired by previous corrupt governments) illegitimate, rejected monitoring by the IMF and decided to not renew the contract for a US military base in Manta, among other measures.

what stopped the coup from succeeding? commentator Atilio Boron wrote a great article in Argentinean newspaper Pagina/12 about it. he mentions 3 main reasons for the attempt's failure: the quick and effective mobilization of broad sectors of Ecuador's population to manifest their support for the president, the international demonstration of solidarity (particularly by the presidents of South American countries members of Unasur, a fairly new regional organization, the same that helped resolve diplomatically and quickly the latest confrontation between Venezuela and Colombia in July 2010) and rejection of the coup, and the courage of president Rafael Correa who withstood physical violence, pressures and the threat of death (his car was shot at even once he had been released and was taken out of the police hospital where he had been held), never admitting to the possibility of abandoning his democratic position.

the importance of understanding these events and acknowledging the attempt of a coup lies in the fact that democratic institutions are not per se unassailable. they have to be defended with courage and celerity. the response to this attack on democratic freedom put to the test the learnings from 2009's coup in Honduras, when the perverse behaviour of the Supreme Court of Justice and international ambiguity (particularly the position of the US and the OAS, who acknowledged the new president elected after the coup) allowed for a legitimate democratic government to be violently removed by forces opposing its policies (increase on the minimum legal wage, forest protection, subscription to the Petrocaribe oil trading agreement and the ALBA, and for its proximity to the governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega).

watching these news, and still fueled by some conversations with a colleague on wether democracy has or not failed, and wether it's still worth or not defending, these events finally decided me to try to write in my website about political issues I feel commited to. the question is larger than I can explain here, but I feel very inspired by a series of developments in public debates particularly in Argentina and other countries from South America. I think there's plenty to learn from the experience of current governments in the region. authors Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, who have dedicated their thorough and very interesting writings to the analyses of the conditions of politics and of democracy, suggest that the European (leftist) political scene might find it refreshing and enlightening to look at the last 10 years of South America's poltical evolution.

some links here for sources of the information:
video of Correa's rescue, attacked with gas bombs (spanish)
video fragments of Correa's speech after being released (spanish)
Atilio Boron - article on the coup attempt in Ecuador, Pagina/12 (spanish)
2009 interview with president Rafael Correa (english)

• 2010.09.24 Potsdam, Berlin
we presented 'The H alf' in Berlin and Potsdam, where I stayed for a few extra days helping with the performances of 'Squint' by Norberto Llopis Segarra, and to watch some of the other works presented in Fabrik Potsdam. I have to admit I felt almost a bit sad when I had to leave because, though I yearned for being back 'home' in Amsterdam, with my (European) loved ones, I also felt very comfortable and engaged working there. Fabrik Potsdam might well be the most serious, supporting and engaging institution in which I've had the opportunity to work. their residency program led by Ulrike Melzwig represents an invaluable space for the development of (contemporary) dance and performance. unfortunately the support provided by the German Tanzplan is coming to an end and I think they are finding difficulties to find a proper alternative. I hope a solution can be found to allow for continuity for such an important workspace.

• 2010.09.15 cultural policy in The Netherlands
the coming cabinet threatens with terrible regressive policies (brutal budget cuts, cancellation of the WWIK subsidy for artists and raising of taxes for cultural activities and workers). please check the following website for a petition against these measures and for activities to support the petition:
http://stopculturelekaalslag.nl/

• 2010.08.31 website on-line
finally the new version of my morethanhuman.com.ar website is up and running! after a long process of refreshing the design and, most importantly, the programming, the site is working.

• 2010.08.31 in Berlin
right now i'm in Berlin. we are starting the last fase of work of 'the Half', the piece initiated by Diego Gil & Igor Dobricic, where i'm working in collaboration with Paz Rojo, Tian Rotteveel, Felix Marchand and, recently, Theresia Knevel. we premiere at the end of the month in Uferstudios.

• 2010.08.31 winter is coming
actually autumn comes first, but it's already cold and rainy.

• 2009.12.29 closure
I'm writing in the airport, a couple of hours from being back in Amsterdam. a very intense and full year comes to an end.

• 2009.12.29 closure
I'm returning to The Netherlands after finishing my projects in Argentina and spending a week there with my family. the last 2 weeks before I spent doing the lighting for 'Nocturnos' and 'Kagel', dance performances and a contemporary music concert, all of it directed by Diana Theocharidis. the work was intense, and it confronted me again with a technician culture that I ABHORR: it is not uncommon to be forced to work with technicians who are territorial, selfish and DESCNFIADOS. again I had to cope with a couple of very uncomfortable situations, that on the other hand showed me how much my working methodologies have changed towards being more flexible in the artistic discussions, improvising more and specially giving more and more relevance to the work of running the lights. the projects were also very precious because they brought me back to the collaboration work with Diana, which

• 2009.12.29 Tucumán
the performances in Tucumán went well. The small audience and the people involved in the work were quite positive and interested both in the process and the outcome. It was a pitty that the Company didn't organize a proper diffusion, or at least performances in a venue more appropriate to a small audience. I also felt like the priorities set by the direction of the Company ended up playing against the creative process - for instance, in that the work scheduled in the theater reduced my 2 weeks of research to 1. I felt that I had almost no contact with the dancers after Monday of that second week. in spite of that, it was an interesting space to reflect again on the relation between product and process. what we presented was interesting and had an impact on the audience, in spite of my fears of it ending up being too superficial. on the other hand, it was interesting to explore the differences that can appear within the same material (working with slow motion movements like in Amsterdam and Mexico, but with quite a different approach each time). and also to notice that, in the end, some new material did find its way into the work, out of exploring ideas in collaboration with the dancers.

• 2009.11.21 go on disappearing
tomorrow I fly to Tucumán, the city where I was born, in the northwest of Argentina. I'm going to do a 2 week laboratory with the Contemporary Dance Company of that province. the work will be in the frame of my project 'Disappear2009' (you can check it here), so it will be connected to 'half of the piece about disappearing' and to the piece I made in México. because of scheduling issues, we only managed to arrange 2 weeks of work, but they will be vey intense. we will have a showing at the end of the 2 weeks. I'm struggling to plan a bit, and find strategies to produce something presentable to the audience, but at the same time to keep the process faithful to what I'm interested in, to really research and try out things without narrowing down all the possibilities from the beginning. we will see how it goes...

• 2009.11.15 back in town
last monday I flew to Buenos Aires. originally a family visit, this trip ended up becoming a very busy one. for the first time in 4 years I am working again in projects in Argentina. today we had the performance in Ciudad Cultural Konex of 'Homenaje a Mauricio Kagel', a program dedicated to the Argentinian/German composer. it was directed by Diana Theocharidis, with whom I used to work for years. it included 3 different pieces, one of them choreographed by Diana. I designed the lighting for the whole project. it was a complicated job because the times for working and there were not many technical resources available, but in the end it worked out quite well. I'm very happy with the lighting, and I received quite good reactions on it. we will repeat the show in the auditorium of the Goethe Instituut of Buenos Aires, in December.

• 2009.11.08 getting finished (for now...)
trying to update the website at least a bit, I look back on how intense this trip to Mexico has been. yesterday night we had the second (and very good) performance of the piece we made with Chicken Democracy: 'la vejez de las paredes una negra sonrisa de alegría un rincón apacible un modo diferente de conspirar de conocer la vida un poco envenenada'. yes, that's the title. but anyways, to keep it brief, the process was fantastic. the collaboration here was very smooth and nice, and I think we are all already looking forward to working together again in the future. to read more from the process, check the blog we wrote. the title of the piece links to it

• 2009.10.13 getting started
yesterday night I arrived to Mexico D.F. I'm still quite dead, after the 4 weeks of work with the Half, travelling back to Amsterdam for half a day, and a long flight to Mexico. but tonight we start with the rehearsals of Mexico desaparece, which is the working title of the project with Chicken Democracy. yesterday night I met the dancers, Ireri, Semis and Vianney, for the first time. we had dinner together right after I landed.

• 2009.10.12 first stage
last saturday we had the 3rd research showing of the the Half, in Tanz Fabrik, Berlin. Diego Gil and me were there for a week, after one week of rehearsals with Igor Dobricic in Amsterdam. Tian Rotteveel sent us from Salzburg a remix of a playlist I chose to dance to. we continued researching the working dynamics, he productive staging of the production conditions, and mainly the halving between dance and music. exploring a new (non)relation between movement and sound, not dancing to the music in a conventional sense but also not ignoring it.

• 2009.09.16 moving out on moving on moving
a short note after the summer. I finally managed -for the first time in years- to really let go of stresses, disconnect from work and stop anticipating the future. I had a fantastic vacation. and, ironically, as soon as I managed to stop thinking about making things happen, things happened. many things. among them, I was invited for working with different people. very interesting projects. in short: next month, on the 12th of October I will go to Mexico D.F. to do a residence/collaboration with the local group Chicken Democracy, a small company with support from the Centro Nacional de las Artes. I will work with them intensively for four weeks, and we will make a new choreography within the frame of my project Disappear2009. more blogs and informative spaces coming soon...

• 2009.09.14 halves
today I had my first encounter with the working group for the Half, the new collaborative creation of Diego Gil and Igor Dobricic. Diego started a 2 weeks research process in het veem theater, Amsterdam, together with Paz Rojo and Tian Rotteveel. I happened to be in town and joined a couple of rehearsals, though this first instance of the research is focused on Paz as a performer and her interaction with Tian and his music. next week there'll be research presentations in the theater, and afterwards I will work with Diego for 2 more weeks, including 1 week research in Tanz Fabrik, Berlin.

• 2009.04.18 short visit
I just came back from Frankfurt. I was there for a week, visiting The Forsythe Company, taking a ballet class with them in the mornings and watching their rehearsals. It was a great and curious experience. I was very surprised by their working dynamics and by the very relaxed atmosphere. Their approach to the work seems to be quite unique, relying very much on their shared history (most of the dancers have been working with Forsythe for a long time), on codes and materials in common, and in a certain body memory. The choreographic work keeps intriguing me, the sensation that it is constituted by a network of textures, a somehow flexible field of smaller structures and forms... So, I hope I'll be able to organize another visit some time, or eventually the possibility to see them working on a new creation. Would be fantastic :)
And, as a side note, I have to mention the ballet classes. Just to admit that I did feel like a clown, and that I had to take them as a challenge and a way to practice humility. Otherwise I wouldn't have shown up until the last day.

• 2009.04.17 finally...
after a very very very very very long time, I finally managed to update (actually, to set up for the first time) the lighting section. I've placed there quite a few pictures, mostly captures from videos - don't expect great quality (except for a few 'real' photos), but more of an overview or general idea of the kind of lighting I've been doing.

• 2009.03.28 updates
once more, a little update to this website. not so easy, though, to keep track of so many things, and find the time to keep this site also up to date. there are some updates in the CV/Bio section. also posted one or two new pictures under images, and added a link or two. finally, I'm still working on the lighting section, updates there are going slow, sorry...

• 2009.03.28 news
as for the news, I just finished the performances of my recent choreography, 'smaller, slower, unproductive and resentful'. you can read more about it in morethanhuman.com.ar and you can check notes about the creative process on the blog smallerinamsterdam.wordpress.com.

• 2009.03.28 institutions
another piece of news: we have finally inscribed our new project, the foundation stichting plan B. together with composer Cecilia Arditto and documentalist Alexandra Indaco, and a group of other artists from Argentina and The Netherlands, we have finally set up the foundation. the idea is to create a platform for producing work of contemporary artists with a base (or a pivot point) in The Netherlands and Argentina. we are now officialy registered, we have started working on our first projects for 2009-2010, and our website will be online soon.

• 2008.11.23 on-line (more and more)
finally, after a very long process, my websites are on-line. I made designs that were programmed by people in Argentina, communicating by e-mail and phone, which is not always very easy or smooth. it took a very long time to get things ready, but I'm happy to think that these virtual spaces were created with the tools internet provides, not only in terms of what was produced but also in terms of the process. I think it is a great practice, and I look forward to use these tools more and learn to do it better.
for my other website please visit www.morethanhuman.com.ar

• 2008.11.22 new creative process
and yet another website is on-line now. I finally got my new blog started, as a space for writing, reflecting, rehearsing and exposing the creative process of my new coreography, which will be presented in Het Veem Theater in Amsterdam in march 2009.
please visit www.smallerinamsterdam.wordpress.com

• 2008.10.29 in Japan
I am still in Japan, though my trip is coming to an end. on friday 17/10 my coreography 'Japón' was performed by the dancers of the Ochanomizu University Dance Club in Tokyo. after that I visited Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka, and I'm now heading back to Tokyo to fly to The Netherlands in the beginning of November.
to read more about my trip and projects in Japan, please visit www.pabro.wordpress.com

• 2008.10.20 teaching
saturday 18/10 I taught the last of my Movement Research classes in studio ArchiTanz, in Tokyo. it was a nice group and a nice experience, and I'm looking forward to more teaching.
to read more about the class and for practical information please visit http://www.a-tanz.com/dance/pablo.html