ConCuerpos is the pioneering inclusive dance company from Colombia
Since 2007 we develop artistic, educational, and research projects. Our aim is to offer inclusive and accessible dance opportunities for people with and without disabilities.
ConCuerpos
Inclusive Dance, Colombia
About us
We celebrate diversity, we love to create from different abilities and we trust the encounter as a way to build a stronger society.
Areas
Artistic - Company
ConCuerpos is the pioneering contemporary dance company in Colombia that includes diverse dancers -with and without disabilities- in their creative work. The company’s political commitment includes breaking down barriers of participation, transforming static notions about dance, and contributing new ethics and aesthetics to the socio-cultural context. ConCuerpos artistic proposal puts singularity first and values difference. At the same time, ConCuerpos seeks to open new creative horizons with each work, proposing innovative and high-quality productions.
Since 2009 ConCuerpos has created professional level dances, both with national and international guest choreographers, as well as from the group’s own exploration. Currently, the company has its fourth cast of dancers, with whom they develop collective creation methods, a training program for professional dancers in the inclusive context, and research on the aesthetics of access.
Eduational
In the educational area, ConCuerpos creates opportunities for accessible dance training, that allow people with and without disabilities to explore their bodies, expand their movement potential, and establish creative relationships. We offer a permanent Class in Bogotá, an annual Training Workshop for Trainers, a specific training program for the company’s dancers and, we hold special workshops. All these activities have been carried out, since 2015, under the Dance for Diversity project.
The special workshops are the result of alliances with organisations in the field of dance and inclusion, adapting the contents to the specific needs of each group.
Research
In the academic field, ConCuerpos has always carried out documentation of all its activities. This follow-up nurtures the research projects we develop on inclusive dance. We contribute written reflections to the discussion of the body, disability, inclusion and dance. ConCuerpos has published several articles, and the books “Cuerpos Potentes” and “Incluyendo al Cuerpo”. Likewise, we have contributed to several undergraduate and graduate thesis both in Colombia and internationally.
Team
Laisvie Andrea Ochoa
Director
Colombian-Lithuanian choreographer, inclusive dance expert and video artist. She is the leader of “ConCuerpos". Laisvie studied Psychology and a Specialisation in Multimedia Creation in Colombia and the Master in Choreography COMMA (CODARTS / Fontys) in the Netherlands. She trained in dance mainly at Danza Comnun Academy in Bogota and has been a dancer there for the companies La Arenera, Tercero Excluido, Korpe, and La Gata Cirko. She also danced for the Spanish company Erre que Erre (residence 2012) and for the German choreographer Isabelle Schad (residence 2011 and 2012). Laisvie is a member of the performing arts magazine el cuerpoeSpin and she has co-written 2 books in the field of Inclusive Dance. Laisvie has directed dance works in Colombia, Argentina, and The Netherlands. Currently, her main creative exploration is multimedia performance, involving live video projection, while maintaining the values she developed in her inclusive dance practice: work from subjectivity, develop bodily intelligence from a state of listening and find creative freedom from the abundance of imagination. Laisvie addresses political and human issues in her works, with a broad understanding of dance. At the moment she moves between Colombia and the Netherlands, continuing her work with ConCuerpos, being a dance teacher a performer, and a maker.
Diana León
Artistic Director
Dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. She has a degree in Art Education from the Francisco José De Caldas University. She studied dance at Danza Común academy and the Instituto Superior de Artes de La Habana (Cuba) ISA. Diana is a student of the specialisation in Human Development with an emphasis on affective and creative processes at the Francisco José de Caldas University. She has participated as choreographer and co-director in the companies Teatro Asfalto y Polvareda “Simoncito” (2007), Línea de aire Contemporary dance company “Detrás de mis ojos”, "La Oruga" and “Oxigeno” (2008-2012), and, La Torpe Company “Luna Inquieta” (2015). As a dancer and performer she has participated in works by the companies Itinera physical theater (2013), La Resistencia (2014-2015), La Malinche (2015), Imagen en Movimiento in the dance film “De cara al Cielo” (2015), OBJET-FAX (2017-2019) and ConCuerpos (2018). Since 2019, she is the Artistic Director of ConCuerpos leading the training program of the company Zona de Creación Accesible (Accessible Creation Zone) and directing the dance “2/3y un baño” which had a telematic version in 2020, and was developed thanks to the creation grand given by the District Institute of the Arts in Bogota, IDARTES.
Lorena Lozano
Dancer, LSC Interpreter and Class Coordinator
Pedagogue, Colombian Sign Language interpreter, dancer, and audiovisual media enthusiast. I have worked as interpreter in schools and in performing arts projects with Idartes, and mainly in ConCuerpos. In this organization, I have also been a Sign Language teacher within the Teacher Trainer workshop. Since 2017 I joined the company and since 2020 I am the coordinator of the Permanent Class in Bogota. My interest is the cultural and artistic inclusion of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired Communities and to expand the knowledge of Sign Language in creative spaces.
Andrés Lagos
Board member
Laura Toro
Dancer
Laura is studying Sociologist at the National University of Colombia. She has experience on social models of disability, especially in the field of higher education, architectonic and media accessibility and the transformation of imaginaries. She is a leader of the disability group of the University. She has participated in the Permanent Class of ConCuerpos since 2017, and since 2019 she has joined the Company as a dancer participation in the dance 2/3 y Un Baño. She has participated in end-of-year performances of the class and in works with the deaf population as a dancer (2018). Additionally, she has collaborated as a assistant for both the Permanent Class and the Teacher Training Workshop (2019-2020) of ConCuerpos.
David Bernal
Dancer
Philosopher from the Javeriana University of Colombia and Master in Creative Writing with an emphasis on film script from the National University of Colombia. His interest is to explore the possibilities of the word as a channel for the production of affective, emotional and reflective effects; as well as in the narration of stories and their staging. He written and directing short films: Suddenly, but next week (2014), Vox Populi, Vox Dei (2015) and What about this (2017). In 2016 he found in dance a form of dialogue where the experience of movement and the emotional reaffirmation of the body are combined. Since then, he has participated in the Permanent Class of ConCuerpos and in 2017 he took the Teacher Training Workshop in Inclusive Dance. In addition, he has trained as a dancer in workshops offered by Danza Comun and by the group En-Trance. He is currently the general director of the digital project Vandalismo Transmedia and a dancer of ConCuerpos.
Hilse León
Dancer
Dancer. Improviser and teacher. She has a degree in Social Sciences from the Andrés Bello Catholic University from Venezuela. She has a dance teacher since 2000, specializing in Release technique and improvisation. She worked at the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes (National Experimental University of the Arts) from Venezuela first as teacher and academic tutor and later as coordinator of the contemporary dance department (2010-2018). In 2000, together with Rafael Nieves, she created the Caracas Roja Laboratorio dance company, awarded in 2005 in the Greater Arts Contest as Best Group Performance and in 2006 as Best Venezuelan Dance Group. Within this company Hilse has participated as a performer and creator in more than twenty artistic productions. Since 2018 she resides in Bogotá where she has been a guest teacher for Danza Comun (2018-2020), IDARTES (2019) and the National University of Colombia (2019). In recent years she has deepened her research about the relationship between spoken word and body, using poetry as a trigger for movement. Parallel to her artistic work, she has specialized in teaching the Pilates Method since 2005. She is a certified floor and apparatus instructor. She is part of Übung Physiotherapy & Pilates, a group of professionals dedicated to physiotherapy and the Pilates method. She started to work with ConCuerpos as a guest teacher for laboratories in 2019 and she joins the company in 2020.
Chrstian Briceño
Dancer
Christian studied dance at CENDA University (2015) and he was a dancer in the first cast of ConCuerpos company from 2009 to 2013, participating in the works Azul (Dir: Charlotte Derbyshire), TR-9B5 (Dir: Sarah Storer) and Táctil (Dir: Laisvie Andrea Ochoa). During that period, Christian participated in inclusive dance workshops and classes organized by ConCuerpos. Later he dedicated himself to the videoblog “Parodiarlo” as a librettist, actor, presenter and creator of digital content on inclusion and diversity. As a dancer he has participated in the VI Festival of Theater of the Deaf in Venezuela (2013), in the Center for Choreographic Experimentation CEC - Danza Común (2013), in the XIV Ibero-American Theater Festival of Bogotá (2014). He elaborated the work plan for the Laboratory of Artistic Dance Training for People with Disabilities and Caregivers of the District Institute of the Arts in 2018 and 2019 in Bogota. In addition, he participated in the International Festival of Deaf Dance in San Francisco, United States - BAIDDF in 2017, in the Fifth Deaf Art Exhibition of La Rueda Flotante Corporation in Medellín in 2017. He was winner of the SmarTIC Inclusive SmartFilms category, Cellular Film Festival in 2017; and winner of the TAL 2020 award in the accessibility strategy category by Toma el Control in 2020. He directed the workshop SEÑAS EN MOVIMIENTO - First Laboratory of Inclusive Space Among Deaf and Hearing People who Live the Dance of the X Dance Festival in Bogotá of IDARTES 2017. Currently, he is once again part of ConCuerpos as dancer and he is a videographer and presenter of the program “Toma el Control”from Canal Trece Colombian TV that focuses on the defense of the viewer.
Mateo Mejía
Dancer
Scenic and sound artist. He explores the languages of dance and movement, putting them in articulation with other artistic disciplines. He is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music of the National University of Colombia and he finished the Interdisciplinary Master's Degree in Theater and Live Arts (MITAV) at the National University of Colombia.He has been training in dance over the years in multiple spaces and following different teachers. With his creative work, he has performed in countries such as Colombia, France, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico and Chile. Both as an independent artist and as a collaborator in creative projects, he has worked with multiple companies and artistic collectives in Bogotá and abroad. In 2021 he joins the company ConCuerpos.
Luis David Cáceres
Lighting and art desing
Master in Plastic and Visual Arts from the Francisco José de Caldas District University - ASAB Faculty of Arts with experience and knowledge in video editing, image editing, animation, lighting design and lighting consoles, set design, video projection, Mapping, 3D modeling and Arduino; in addition to managing different Software (Adobe Suite, Final Cut, Cinema 4D, Resolume Arena, Sketchup, Qlab, and Wysiwyg, among others). His skills and interest in ceramics, carpentry, engraving, drawing and illustration move him to involve and enrich your projects with these artistic disciplines. His versatility has opened up the possibility of moving to the interdisciplinary, mixing his knowledge and artistic interests when leading his work teams. In video, illustration, dance, literature, lighting and visuals, he found tools to create and shape avant-garde ideas. It is because of this combination of interests that he finds his environment for research and artistic creation on stage. There he has been an important part of collective creation projects, with large, medium and small format companies and stage productions, which has enriched from the creation of audiovisual material, mapping and lighting, as well as the design and construction of scenography and the Direction of art. He has worked hand in hand with choreographers, dancers, theater directors and actors in national projects that have been deserving of creation grants and that in turn have been summoned internationally to represent the country in multiple festivals and stages around the world, such as: Burning Caravan, Periferia Company, Perforadora Collective, Carretel Collective, La Navaja de Ockham, the Young Colombian Philharmonic, among others. He has been in charge of the area of video, technical production and advice on stages such as Media Torta, Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation, the Ibero-American International Theater Festival, Corferias and Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Theater, among others.
René Alejandro Moreno
Composer
Musician from Bogota, graduated from the Francisco José de Caldas District University ASAB in Bogotá as a teacher in musical arts with an emphasis on piano; and from the DNA Music academy as an electronic music producer and DJ. He has worked as a designer and composer for stage for institutions such as the National Theater House, the Javeriana University and the District University with choreographers and directors such as Sarah Storer, Leonardo Petro, Andrés Lagos and Laisvie Ochoa. At the same time, he works as a certified pedagogue of the Suzuki methodology for piano in Latin America.
Camila Malaver
Video artist
Master in Visual Arts, with audiovisual emphasis, from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá (2018). She has worked with organizations such as Tambolab, an audiovisual producer focused on creating content to disseminate and give value to the ancestral knowledge of different regions of Colombia, more specifically in her project "Los Oficios". Also with the Organizmo Foundation, interested in spreading knowledge related to permaculture and bio-construction. With ConCuerpos, an inclusive dance company dedicated to developing research, creation and education projects around the development of inclusive scenarios that allow the exploration of movement for people with and without disabilities. She currently researches and works on different projects that involve photography, video, animation and pedagogy to talk about memory and identity, based on daily life, the territory and the body.
Founder members: Paulina Avellaneda, Carolina Caballero and Laisvie Andrea Ochoa.
Previous dancers – extended family:
Felipe León, Michel Tarazona, Maria José Rodriguez, Felipe León, Veronica Toro, Paula Andrea Ocampo, Mónica Jaramillo, Alejandro Penagos, Margarita Gómez, Catherine Busk, Stephanie Lievano, Jhon Jairo Vanegas, Rachel Paul, Ronald Solano, Aldona Beltrán, Luisa Martínez.
The history of the organisation
The project was born in 2007 thanks to the initiative of Meghan Flanigan and Laisvie Andrea Ochoa to introduce integrated / inclusive dance in Colombia. In April of that year, with the support of the British Council, CIREC and Espacio Ambimental, experts Charlotte Darbyshire and Welly O’Brien from the United Kingdom were invited to offer the first integrated contemporary dance workshop in the country. Thanks to the success of this first project, ConCuerpos was born, with the initial support of the British Council.
In 2009, Laisvie Andrea Ochoa, Paulina Avellaneda and Carolina Caballero formalised the Organisation with its three areas: educational, artistic and research. That same year the company was born and since 2010 the Permanent Class has been established in Bogota. In 2013, the Teacher Training Workshop began to be offered annually.
Since 2012, Laisvie Andrea has been the director of ConCuerpos, always with the support of the members of the company. Since 2018 Diana Leon became the Artistic Director working closely with Laisvie as a power duo.
Prices and Awards
- 2020 & 2017. Winner of the Concertation Program from District Institute of the Arts of Bogota (IDARTES). Dance for Diversity project.
- 2020, 2017, 2016 & 2015. Winner of the National Cultural Concertation Program from the Ministry of Culture of Colombia. Dance for Diversity project.
- 2019. City of Bogota Creation Grant. Awarded by IDARTES, Stimuli Portfolio. To create the dance “2/3 y Un Baño”
- 2018. Diverse Bogota Grant for Social Sectors. Awarded by IDARTES, Stimuli Portfolio. Dance for Diversity project.
- 2018. Grant for the circulation. Ministry of Culture of Colombia. Dance “Nada es Fijo”
- 2017. Body and Memory of Dance – Research Grant. Ministry of Culture of Colombia. Potent Bodies book.
- 2016. International Circulation Grant for Dance Companies. Ministry of Culture of Colombia. Dance “Nada es Fijo” to participate in the Gathered Together Festival in Scotland.
- 2016. Grant for the Support of Artistic Projects of Non-Profit Entities. IDARTES. Dance for Diversity Project.
- 2015. Research-Creation Grant for Choreographers, Groups and Dance Companies. Ministry of Culture of Colombia. To create the dance “Nada es fijo” by the guest choreographer Victoria Marks (USA).
- 2014. Fulbright Specialist Scholarship. Fulbright Colombian Commission. Artistic residency of Victoria Marks (USA).
- 2014. Residence at La Factoría LÉxplose. To create the dance “Singular”
- 2102 Award for Cultural and Artistic Organisations for Population with Disabilities. Ministry of Culture of Colombia.
- 2007-2009. Priority project of the British Council Colombia “Dance for Inclusion”. Artistic residencies with guest choreographers Charlotte Darbyshire, Well O’Brien and Sarah Storer.