Esther López Navarro. The laugh is part of my DNA, humor is undoubtedly my greatest lifeline. I also confess that madness and imagination dress with me every day. I’m a dancer and a choreographer who is always curious, who finds inspiration in daily life actions, people, how they move, how they talk and think.
I seeks to build bridges of communication between different countries and cultures. I want to be the reflection of reality, of a society, of someone who needs to see him/herself reflected. I’m a dancer and a choreographer who is interested in knowing different ways of doing and thinking. I always think about how to merge different styles and traditions, wanting to investigate new languages and ways of transmitting a message.
During the last years I have accumulated international experiences. During the year 2023, I spent six months in South Korea exploring the K-Pop phenomenon and the new artistic proposals that are being developed and assimilating the differences with respect to contemporary dance in the West. In Seoul, I have been sharing creation processes and exchanging ideas and searching for new styles, learning the Korean language, fusing acting with dance and venturing into the philosophy and practice of taekwondo. The present work that I am sending to the Arte Laguna Prize is born as a result of these experiences.
My stay in Korea has had the effect of highlighting and accentuating the Spanish roots of my artistic experience. Valuing one's own culture and the training learned in contrast with the background of my Korean dancer colleagues opens new possibilities for development, search and curiosity. Common exploration of new frontiers, at a time when common bridges between Asia and the West are necessary.
In Spain, this same year I choreographed a work for the VDF company, with 12 dancers on stage and which premieres at the end of October. In this work I address the role of the individual in society with music ranging from Dean Martin to Los Panchos and symbolic representations of Spanish pictorial history (Velazquez). Without forgetting the role of technology in today's society and how it influences us daily. I am the first VDF dancer (2019) to be hired as a choreographer.
Previously I have had the opportunity to direct and create a performance/chorography Entre Vidas, Ningú no és perfecte, Kintsukuroi, Made of Letter (residency in Huarte) ...
Video art is a tool that helps me extend movement, to highlight it. It is an extension of the message itself and its essence.
I am also participating, this time as a dancer, with the experimental company Unaiuna, which is trying to capture on stage a dance proposal simultaneously with a parallel broadcast on Instagram and stage images recorded with mobile phones by the dancers themselves.
In 2022 I participated as a dancer in the Biennale di Venezia, with the prestigious British choreographer Wayne McGregor, and previously I was in Chicago in the Visceral Dance Chicago company with the intention of learning different work techniques. I also danced with the ITDansa company after finishing classical and contemporary dance studies at the Barcelona Conservatory Institut del Teatre.
Nothing has only one point of view. Art is a process of acceptance and listening for everyone who appreciates it. I am fascinated by the power of art and its free interpretation. I want to create intercultural creation processes in the field of contemporary dance and in the search for new frontiers and styles. Always from an inclusive point of view, diversity of origins, showcase of cultures and holistic vision. Transmit, promote dialogue and curiosity, merge arts and promote collaboration between artists. Demand, quality, innovation, message, empathy and sensitivity.
Curiosity is the engine of life. I want to cross borders, capture the world and be able to transmit everything that life whispers to me.
