“Unhealthy”, the language of a stormy love
La Ventana Producciones presents its new creation “Malsano”, a new circus work that guides the viewer through metaphors carefully crafted from the fusion of theatre, movement, live music, video and circus techniques. This piece is inspired by the story of a dangerous love that could cost you your life.
The work arrives in its premiere season Thursdays through Saturdays from September 15 to October 1; with dramaturgy, direction and performance by Erica Ortega Cortez, who shares the stage with long-time circus artists: Jonathan Rodriguez and Andrea Meneses, along with Valentina Castillo (“Uva Lunera”) on piano and sound design.
“She” (Andrea Meneses) has been taught to wait, to obey, to shut up and quickly forget, so she allows herself to be carried away by the emotions that “He” (Honathan Rodriguez) awakens in her in a dizzying game that will led her down a path from which it is difficult to return. “She” and her “Head” (Erica Ortega) only wanted to believe in love, but the man who claims to love her imposes the yoke of power on her, stripping her of her frail humanity as he whispers his devotion in her ear. How do we escape the prison of guilt? “She” must choose between jumping into the void and denying her misery, or handing over the reins of her life to the unhealthy man who loved her so much he drained her.
Incense technique
This is how “Malsano” traverses the psychological universe of the couple, based on body language, piano and circus techniques such as tight wire, trapeze, Indian rope and floor acrobatics; creating powerful and poetic images, “circus technique serves to make sense of this emotional interweaving that screams without many words,” comments director Erika Ortega. All this immersed in a powerful visual and audio atmosphere of suspense.
“In this new creation, we dive into the thorny issue of psychological abuse, that humiliation that oppresses thousands around the world and which has no legal basis due to the lack of physical evidence, as it is endured in silence.. A few months ago, I read a thread on Twitter about the complaint of a Colombian man in Germany who, for several years, had been subjected to various types of violence, starting from psychological, going through physical, economic and sexual abuse. The case makes me stare as a creative and activist woman to make a stand against this aberration that hijacks the victim’s resolve and manipulates her to the point of losing control over her own life,” says Obando.
“Malsano” is an independent production that is achieved thanks to the convergence of a creative team with extensive experience. Ortega in general direction, production and dramaturgy, choreographic direction by Holman Serato, lighting design and technical production by Umberto Hernández, music composition by Valentina Castillo (“Uva Lunera”), art direction by Jaime Rincón and costume design by Rebecca Rocha.
Circus, poetry and short stories
For more than 15 years, La Ventana Producciones has focused its work on the search and creation of the new circus, where, in addition to multidisciplinarity, it ventures into new poetics and stories; Now he presents a story that explores the psychological abuse that comes with some relationships.
That’s how “Unhealthy” is a production inspired by real events that reveal situations that many women go through, a product of models taught and accepted by society, because it is believed that love tolerates everything, believes everything, everything. He waits for him and supports everything.
It should be noted that Erica Ortega created Corporación Producciones La Ventana as an interdisciplinary space for laboratory, training, creation and distribution in an independent circus, where he is currently part of the team as artistic director, manager and executive producer. As a director, she explores the world of writing from the image, opens the field of collective creativity to serve as a scribe alongside the offerings of circus performers.
Among his works are: “Cicle, a journey to lightness” (2009), “Bishamon”, “God of joy”, “Reaching for dreams” (corporate musicals, Grupo Éxito 2009-2010), “Launch of the Ibero-American Theater Festival of Bogotá” (2011 and 2015), “Dementes” (2014), “The Circus Lives in the City” (Idartes, Circus Sector Project-2014), “Las tías” (2017), “Agustín’s Desire” (2018), “The fights” (2019), “Numbers that count” (2019) and a significant number of performances, scripts and corporate productions that range from comic situations to the development of interdisciplinary shows.
