{"id":845,"date":"2016-07-05T17:08:28","date_gmt":"2016-07-05T17:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/13\/?p=845"},"modified":"2023-06-03T08:28:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T08:28:15","slug":"unconquerable-bodies-interview-with-edgardo-mercado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/13\/unconquerable-bodies-interview-with-edgardo-mercado\/","title":{"rendered":"Unconquerable Bodies: Interview with Edgardo Mercado"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Halima Tahan Ferreira<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n

The Argentinian choreographer Edgardo Mercado has been carrying out his intense activity both locally and internationally. His style is defined by its openness to other disciplines, by its readiness to explore and investigate other fields, such as science and technology. In his work, the dimensions of space, the relationship with the audience and the sense of intimacy are crucial, as this artist is always in search of a dance form engaged in a permanent, creative and human dialogue.<\/p>\n

\"PHOTO<\/p>\n

Edgardo Mercado comes, so to speak, from the world of Science; he started out on the path of Physical Science and Mathematics at the University of Buenos Aires. Dance came later. He confesses that he started dancing in the 1990s: \u201cLate, very late, given that we are talking about a profession that requires early training to reach excellence. But even so, I achieved a good technical level; I think because of my strong desire to dance, and a lot of hard\u2014really hard\u2014work. I\u00b4m sure that it\u00b4s never too late to start doing something that you deeply desire to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a dancer, he felt the need to create, to go beyond performing, but in those days, which were the height of the dance-theatre movement, of which he was also part: \u201cI couldn\u00b4t understand what were the rules of the game of creation, in terms of dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2003, he made a great discovery: the work of the Swiss choreographer Gilles Jobin, Moebius Strip<\/em>, which made him understand that there were many possibilities for creation in dance. Then, a kind of alignment of events took place, as if something finally fit together: he discovered that the mathematical concepts and structures, which he had previously written on paper, could be now displayed in space on the stage; they were like tools to tackle the topics and themes most interesting to him, and gave coherence and meaning to his work. In that moment he started to use \u201ca personal way to approach choreographic creation.\u201d<\/p>\n