Loop Tanz

Community is a new series speaking with creatives about cool art happening around us. This month we speak with the three new choreographers of “Loop Tanz 1” at the neuestheater.ch in Dornach, Switzerland.

Who are you?

My name is Sol Bilbao Luciux, I am from a small city in the south of Spain called “La Linea de la Concepción”. I started dancing because my mom would always take me to her ballet classes and I wanted to do what she was doing. When I was 19, I went to Madrid and finished my studies at the “Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Mariemma”. I started my profesional career at Introdans in Holland. Since 2008, I am a soloist with Ballett Theater Basel. As a choreographer I have been creating since 2007, mostly in Basel. In 2011 I got the Sperber Jugend-Forderpreis for my choreography “Grimja”. My work for Loop is a piece that was created this past October for “Interdans”, a contemporary dance festival in Belgium. I thought about working deeper on the concept and bringing it back to Basel, so here we have a new version of “Tenguerengue”.

I am Debora Maiques Marin I was born in Barcelona, Spain. I did all my studies in a private school, “la Companyia” with very remarcable teachers like my main mentor Elise Lummis from London, or Rodolfo Castellanos form Cuba. When I was 18, I joined the junior company of Nacho Duato for 2 years. Then I joined Ballet Carmen Roche and Valencia Theater Company. When I was 22 years old, I joined Ballett Basel. In 2009 I was nominated as Best Dancer in Switzerland. In 2010 I created my first piece for the Dancelab program of the Ballett Basel,”Allaine Zum Zwei” and since then my repertory is growing. In 2015 I created a piece for Filter4 Dance called “Can I Say?” a project with a massive success in Basel. In Loop Tanz 1 I, will present my latest piece “My Couloring Book”, a piece with humor, theater and dance.

My name is Javier Rodríguez Cobos. I am a dancer and choreographer from Spain living in Basel. I started dancing flamenco as a little boy in the corridors of my house. One day my mom took me to a dance school and with a lot of work, time and dedication Ms. Julia Estevez taught me most of what I know about dance. After I finished my training at the “Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Madrid”, I joined the CND II under the direction of Nacho Duato and Tony Fabre. After two great years, I joined Ballet de l’Opera du Rhin in Mulhouse followed by two years in Introdans. My first choreography was a collaboration with Sol Bilbao Lucuix 10 years ago, it was a great fun experience. Since then I choreographed seven more pieces. In Loop Tanz 1 I will present my latest work “Tender Dreams”, where 5 male dancers show the power of the instincts of human beings.

What is Loop Tanz 1?

Loop Tanz is a dance evening with 3 pieces from 3 choreographers in colaboration with the Neuestheater.ch in Dornach. For a long time, we wanted to create an evening together. After some research we found a beautiful new theater in Dornach. We met the directors of Neuestheater.ch and had a great connection. They were looking for up-and-coming choreographers in Basel and after seeing our work we started talking about possible ways to collaborate, and that was the beginning of Loop Tanz 1. And why the name Loop? As a loop is something that keeps occurring, we are hoping to present a new dance evening each season in Neuestheater.ch and keep creating exciting new pieces as house choreographers.

Why are you doing this?

More than anything, for pleasure. We love working as choreographers and sharing this passion with talented dancers and friends.

The importance of freelance creative work? Doing your own thing… starting something?

For us, he importance of freelance creative work is that it gives you freedom to express and be yourself. Our job as dancers is very creative, but we think it´s important to also find a way outside of institutions. We want to also be a part of the free scene in Basel and bring our ideas to the public.

Things you have learned creating this project?

With this project we learned the importance of having a good professional team that works together and in the same direction. People that you trust, respect and believe in, in all aspects. It is very important to let people do what they are best at. It is a great pleasure to share this adventure with each and every member of our crew. Everyone is putting their hearts in what they do and they really do it good. We feel very lucky for that and we are all very proud of each other!

Something you would change to make creating a project like this easier?

Time has been our biggest challenge here. We wish to have had more time to do all the things that need to be done for such a project like Loop Tanz 1. There is a lot of people involved in this project. Investing time in the dance studio, in the costumes, in the technical side, organizing schedules, planning meetings, rehearsals and so on. There is a lot of paper work to do like writing contracts and making a dossier of the full project, necessary to apply for financial help. Being a part of the ensemble of Ballett Theater Basel means a lot of time and dedication and not much free time for other things, so imagine what is it to run a big project like this besides our 100 % job.

Luckily we are still young and full of passion. But next time we will start sooner planning and organizing everything. In past projects we learned the importance of having someone taking care of the management side. A professional person taking care of that side of the production has been really helpful, thank you Valeria.