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ALEJANDRA

BALBOA

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BIO

Home  >  Bio  >  Creations  >  Other projects  >  Contact

BIO ENG

ALEJANDRA BALBOA

Pontevedra - 1992

Galician creator and performer. The philosophy behind her work is based on the concept of movement as a channel for self-discovery, observation and listening. She finds in dancing a space in which to inhabit the present, to explore and investigate the possibilities of her own body language and its interpretation.

My name is Alejandra Balboa, yet almost everyone calls me Jani, a nickname my mother gave me since she is a big fan of Janis Joplin.

 

I was born in 1992. I started dancing when I was 7 years old in an academy that nowadays I consider to be my second home. The teachers Deborah and Kellen taught me to dance from their passion and perseverance, and encouraged me to leave Pontevedra to continue my dance studies when I was 19 years old. In Lisbon I took my training at the Escola Superior de Dança, where I discovered contemporary dance and a stage of infinite transition began.

 

I did my internship in the company Otra Danza. In the l'Escorxador studios I started to create my first solo: Do you understand anything? I try... where I explored my unconscious mind through my own gestures. It was premiered at the "Abril en Danza" show and was part of the programme of the "XV Certamen Internacional de Coreografía Burgos & New York", "Danza Excélsior 2017", "SóLODOS en Danza 2017" and "Seis Cordas Galicia 2019", among others.

 

I returned to Portugal and together with Teresa Manjua, a friend and colleague from the Escola Superior, I reinvented my first solo, giving it a new vision. Together we created Trick or Treat, which was presented in Lisbon and at the "Entrelaçados" Festival.

 

Later, Irene’s K (Belgium) and Francesca’s Selva (Italy) dance companies awarded me a scholarship, where I developed my listening skills, which became a tool that marked the way I feel in relationship with space.

 

It is in the studio of Luis Marrafa (Belgium) where my latest solo was born and is currently on stage: Vertebrata. In this piece I dig deep into my vulnerability as a human being and the internal conflict between the visceral and the rational. It was premiered in the 10th edition of "Corpo (a) Terra''; I was a finalist in the program "SóLODOS en Danza 2020" and in the "IV Plataforma Diálogos Contemporáneos del Festival DZM", where I received the award for the best performer; among others.

 

In 2021 I write "Cuidar el proceso" for "Cara unha escena plural", a project that encourages dance in Galicia.

 

Also in 2021, together with Pavel Amilcar and the Orquesta Barroca 430 I give body to the opera Alcina, approaching new ways of interpreting from an emotive structure.

 

At the same time, I have the pleasure of teaching students of the school where I grew up, sharing my vision of dancing, based on self-acceptance, diversity and respect for the personal process.

 

Returning to Galicia has allowed me to get to know the professional side of my homeland and to be part of a valuable network that continues to expand and for which I feel very fortunate and grateful.

 

Nowadays I continue to integrate what I have learnt from each experience, accepting that they are part of my evolutionary process as a human being and as an artist. Questioning, expanding-contracting, living dance as a journey in time in which I move between the registered memories in me and its future projection.

CV COMPLETE 

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CREATIONS

CREATIONS

"VERTEBRATA"
Corpo(a)terra Festival - 2020

An emotional journey moved by the inward sounds of the body that struggle to control its inner impulses, trying to decode them or even dominate them.

The comes and goes, the ups and downs, in one hand from the airy breathtaking of the attempt, in the other hand the heavy load of debility.

Vertebrata is the expression of an animal that shares throught movements the different states of its matter.

SYNOPSIS

I don´t allow anything to get in without reverberate, without control of its intensity, the way it resides, crashes and even explodes inside of me.

Sometimes those fellings seem to be resting. But suddenly they start rushing around the space willing to be noticed.

I just try to hide them. I naively think that when they come back to pinch me again I will understand them with clarity.

But it is impossible. I can´t make them rest.

I am affraid my inner peace gets reduced to little moments that I manage to breath in and breath out with ease.

CHOREOGRAPHY AND DANCER: Alejandra Balboa

DURATION: 10 min

VIDEO

REVIEW BY NIEVES NEIRA ROCA TO ERREGUETÉ

TOUR

·X Corpo(a)Terra, Ourense 2020

·Finalist in the contest of creation of the SóLODOS En Danza Festival / Ourense / 2020.

·April 16, 2021 participates in Atopémonos Bailando of Colectivo Glovo and Concello de Lugo.

·Ciclo Propulsa Danza + Paisaxe + Patrimonio: 07/09/21: Portomarín (Lugo), 07/1/21: MIHL (Lugo), 07/17/21: Ribeira (A Coruña)

·Award for Best Performer in IV Plataforma Diálogos Contemporáneos of  DZM Festival in Cáceres, 11/28/2021

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ANYTHING? I TRY..."
Abril en Danza Festival - 2016

A solo inspired in sign language and its interpretation. This sleight of hands gives form to a ruminate voice that leads to a plunge into the shadows, reaching the unconsciousness loops, trying to make sense of something that maybe there is no explanation.

 

SYNOPSIS

Coming back again to the same point where the doubts splash out my peace as the rain splashes on the ground.

Dissolving all kinds of certainties in a puddle.

CHOREOGRAPHY AND DANCER: Alejandra Balboa

DURATION: 10 min

TOUR

· Abril en Danza Festival, Alicante 2016.

·XV International Choreography Contest Burgos - New York, Burgos 2016.

·V Muestra de Danza Contemporánea Ventana Abierta a la Danza, Málaga 2016.

·Danza Excelsior, Italia 2017.

·Finalist Creation Contest of Sólodos En Danza Festival, Ourense 2017.

·Seis Cordas, Teatro Ensalle, Sólodos Cía and Galicia Danza Contemporánea, Vigo 2019.

·Corpo(a)Terra Festival in 25 aniverssary MITEU, Ourense 2020.

 

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OTHER PROJECTS

OTHER PROJECTS

"CUIDAR EL PROCESO"
Cara unha escena plural - 2021

In 2021 I write the pre-text "Cuidar el proceso" for Cara unha esceno plural, invited by Caterina Varela and Sabela Mendoza.

"ALCINA"
Opera - Orquesta Barroca 430 of Vigo - 2021

In 1735, G.F. Händel composed the Opera ``Alcina" based on Orlando el Furioso by the Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto. 286 years later, Pavel Amilcar, directs this project that takes overtures, symphonies, dances, and arias from the Opera, performed by the 430 Orchestra, by the soprano Eugenia Boix and by the choreographer Alejandra Balboa, intertwining Händel's historical discourse with a more contemporary conception.

Alejandra proposes the use of her body as another instrument of the orchestra, as a projection of the soprano's voice, under an emotional pentagram that addresses the world of love and heartbreak: happiness, non-reciprocal sensuality, anger, a vulnerable and repetitive attempt to charm, rejoicing in pain, the devastation that hides a tear...

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Pavel Amilcar 

CHOREOGRAPHY AND DANCER: Alejandra Balboa 

SOPRANO VOICE: Eugenia Boix 

MUSIC INTERPRETATION: Orquestra Barroca Vigo 430

SPONSORS: Xacobeo 21-22 - Xunta de Galicia 

DURATION: 1:15 h 

TOUR:

- Aula de Cultura Xulio Cuns, Betanzos, november 2021. 

- Museo Bellas Artes, Coruña, november 2021. 

- Auditorio de Vilalba, november 2021. 

"CATERVA"

Seis Cordas Galicia - Teatro Ensalle - 2019

In 2019 Teatro Ensalle, Cía Solados and Galicia Danza Contemporánea collaborated to present a special program at the Vigo theater where emerging dance creators from Galicia met: Seis Cordas Galicia. The program ended with the presentation of a show created specifically for the occasion and the space:

 

Caterva

From lat. caterva 'troop', 'crowd', 'platoon’, 'gang '.

1. f. A crowd of people or things considered as a messy group (...)

 

Caterva is a mobile and specific show for each place in which the cast varies on each occasion. Caterva uses the resources of each new space and incorporates them into the development of the piece​

 

DIRECTION AND CREATION: Erick Jiménez​

PERFORMERS AND CREATORS: Alba Fernández Cotelo, Elvi Balboa, Alejandra Balboa, Lucía Bocanegra, Esther Latorre and Hugo Pereira​

SOUND SPACE: DJ Jas Processor · 7H Coop. Cultural​

LIGHTING DESIGN: Pedro Fresneda · Teatro Ensalle

PRODUCTION: Maruxa Salas · Cía Sólodos and  Manu Lago · Galicia Danza Contemporánea

DURATION: 70 min

VIDEO

"AD RUNWAY FW19 OU Fashion Show"
Ourense - 2019

Adolfo Domínguez A/W 2019 Fashion Show held in the Vello district of Ourense, Galicia. A show of culture, music, and dance in which the firm highlights its roots. The parade was carried out by 60 non-professional models of all ages and sizes and included the act of a group of tambourines and different performances. The collection presented is developed around the concept of gender fluid or gender non-identification, including some garments that can be used by both men and women.

SHOW CHOREOGRAPHED BY: Maruxa Salas

PHOTOGRAPHY: Adolfo Domínguez

 

VIDEO RECORDER: Adrián González

VIDEO

"LA PARTIDA" of Vero Cendonya
Colaterales - Corpo(a)terra - 2018

Vero Cendoya shares her work with selected dancers to work her piece LA PARTIDA during the Festival, closing the program of this edition in the city of Ourense.

5 dancers and 5 footballers.

A football field.

A referee.

Gathered in a peculiar game with its own rules.

We will use this dialogue to ask ourselves vital questions as well.

We will talk about life through football and dance.

MORITZ AWARD FOR BEST SHOW OF FIRA TARREGA 2015.

AWARD OF CRITICA OF BARCELONA in the modality "Street Arts".

VIDEO

"TRICK OR TREAT" 

2017

This project is another way to explore the issues that arise in "Do you understand anything? I try..." shared with Teresa Manjua, resulting in a dialogue characterized by the tension between two women who debate to reach a conclusion or agreement, but at the same time, both remain firm to each idea.

SYNOPSIS

“And so I often come home at night depressed by what we have done, what we are doing. It’s good, it means I’ve changed.”

 

CHOREOGRAPHY AND PERFORMERS: Alejandra Balboa, Teresa Manjua

MUSIC: Loscil

DURATION: 20 minutes

 

TOUR:

·Devir Capa (Centro de Artes Performativas do Algarve) Portugal 2016

·Teatro Ibérico, Lisboa 2017

·Teatro Turim, Lisboa 2017

· Entrelaçados Festival, Algarve 2019

"LALI LALI" 
Abril en Danza Festival - 2016

Alejandra Balboa and Samuel Gordillo created this small piece during their stay at Compañia Otradanza, for the April 2016 Dance Festival’s youth talent show

CHOREOGRAPHY AND PERFORMERS: Alejandra Balboa and Samuel Gordillo

VÍDEO

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