Mexican choreographer inspires dancers

Miguel Mancillas founded the now internationally renowned Antares Danza Contemporánea in Hermosillo, Mexico 21 years ago. The dance and choreography department brought Mancillas and his talented dancers in for a week of workshops, which will culminate this weekend with two electrifying performances of “Tu Hombro” Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. at the Grace Street Theater.

The Commonwealth Times: Can you tell me about your work, “Tu Hombro”?

Miguel Mancillas: It’s a piece that I worked on for about eight months. It took me a good three months to finally set the piece the way I wanted it because there was a lot of material I that didn’t want. In the beginning I was using the sensation of a deep hug to drive the movement-the vulnerability that comes with it. Instead of pretending to be self-sufficient all the time, you sometimes have an empty place inside you and you need someone. The piece came about that way-you’re safe and ok but at the same time, you don’t have the solution to your emptiness.

CT: So the shoulder is a metaphor for .

MM: . support and at the same time, a way of defense. Also, a lot of the movement and lifts are coming from the shoulder. I didn’t know what to name the piece at first. I researched the shoulder because I was saying it so much in rehearsal and liked the way it sounded and found the coincidence between the number of parts to the piece and the number of joints in that part of the body-three real, two false. There are also three characters in the piece that are real and two that represent dreams, memory or the subconscious.

CT: So you came up with these five separate sections without knowing anything about the structure of the shoulder?

MM: Yes. It was a coincidence and I said ‘Wow, I have to respect that.’ But the piece is also built by the dancers.

CT: What do you ask of your dancers?

MM: They need to put themselves in the piece. I set the movement but they need to make them true.

CT: So it’s rare to find contemporary dance outside of Mexico City?

MM: Yes. The weird thing is learning how to live outside of Mexico City because that is where everything happens. To have that level of competence – because people say we do really good work in Hermosillo – is also rare-especially because we go through so many dancers. I always focus on the dancers that I have, not the ones I could have. Some of them I’ve trained from the beginning so the company is like a school at the same time.

CT: What are your goals in dancing for your audience and instructing the dance and choreography majors?

MM: Really, it’s to share. I’m learning just like they are. I have to prove to myself that what I ask can be done. The class is always like a test and you have to find the solutions through different routes. At the same time, you are training the bodies and muscles. It’s always a way for teacher and student to learn.