Luchadora
An interview with Jimena Bermejo
Push through a door in the basement of
O'Kane and you'll find yourself in a room with a KIWI floor and a wall of
mirrors. The studio is the humble home of the College's dance program. Dance
exists both inside and outside the arts curriculum at Holy Cross. Officially
listed under Theatre, the dance program offers beginning and intermediate
classes that range across the Western tradition—classical, modern, and
jazz —to the East, through College's exceptional program in Balinese
performing arts. With no majors, minors, and a scant curricular profile, the
program houses relatively few students, with still fewer trained dancers among
them. And yet, as the following interview shows, dance is a spirited presence
on campus, pushing students to discover new forms of expression within the
liberal arts.
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En el sótano de O'Kane se descubre un
salón con un piso KIWI y un muro de espejos. El estudio es el domicilio
humilde del programa de baile del College. El baile existe a la vez dentro y
fuera del programa de estudios del arte de Holy Cross. Clasificado oficialmente
bajo la facultad de Teatro, el programa de baile ofrece cursos al nivel
introductorio e intermedio que abarcan tanto la tradición
occidental—baile clásico, moderno, y jazz—como oriental, a
través del extraordinario programa de artes escénicas balinesas
del College. Sin majors, ni minors, y con un escaso perfil curricular, el
programa alberga relativamente pocos estudiantes y aún menos que tienen
una formación técnica en baile. Pero aún así, como
lo demuestra la siguiente entrevista, el baile es una presencia vivaz en el
campus, que anima a los estudiantes a descubrir nuevas formas de
expresión dentro de las artes liberales.
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Daniel Frost,
Ed.: So, Prof. Bermejo, how long have you been at Holy Cross?
Jimena Bermejo: I've been here since around 2004 or 2005.
I came to replace someone who been teaching here, actually, but who had to
leave for a year. We were dancing in the same company and she asked me to cover
for her. Then she didn't come back. It was luck, really.
You
do performance art, you do motion video, and then you teach, at Holy Cross,
what I imagine would be more traditional dance. How do you see the relationship
between what you do as a professional dancer and your teaching here at Holy
Cross?
Well, I'm first a dancer. I started when I was little. I
started teaching in Boston public schools, where I was for a long time,
teaching dance at elementary and preschool. I really liked the fact that the
students weren't dancers. When I started teaching there it was really tough -
because the kids were super tough. And then I taught at a studio, which was
much easier, but I hated it, I so hated it…
Really? Why?
I don't know, I didn't like it at
all. I didn't like all the preconceived ideas about dance that the parents and
the students had. I didn't like it that they wanted to "look" a certain way. At
Boston Public Schools, dance was used almost as therapy. So I went back to the
public schools. Then the position at Holy Cross opened up.
I really like
the fact that these students are not usually dancers either, so that I can do a
lot. I can explore things with them. I get them to do different exercises that
they don't have preconceived ideas about, like a dancer would. I believe I
should give them the gift of movement, that doesn't have to be perfect or
anything. I also do a lot of fun things with them, that might not be considered
the typical dance "thing."
You say "the gift
of movement." What is that?
You know, since I've been watching
kids and students like this, I just think that there is something about moving
that is natural to all of us, when we are all so trapped in this, I don't know,
very tense world. I mean it takes a while; sometimes the students… [She
smiles.] Sometimes I have to yell at them. "Move! It's dance class! Move!" It's
so hard for some of them to let go. I get a lot of feedback that says, like,
"My God, this class is so different! It's so unlike what I do, it's so
relaxing."
And I think it's just letting your body move.
So, you know that Holy Cross is "liberal arts"- we say that a
lot. What do you think the relationship between movement and expression -
bodily expression - might be?
Well, have to teach them
academics, too, in my class. Every year is different; I've been trying to keep
my classes fresh, to look for the right thing to do with them. This year in
Modern, we're studying certain choreographers. I don't do a lot of history in
Modern class; instead, we look at the choreographers and see how they make
dances. How do they start, what do they do? I try to do exercises that are
related to that choreographer. Take Merce Cunningham, for example. He started
doing dances by chance. He would roll dice or coins. The dancers all sort of
knew the movements, but the order of movements, and when they would come to the
stage, was really dictated by the coins. He really had almost no control over
what the dance was going to look like. Nobody knew. You had to wonder, and the
music wasn't really related… And so we do things like that in class.
Sometimes I'll give them a deck of cards, say, and I give a movement to each
card, and they have to make something up, see what happens.
What do you think the relationship between dance and music is?
I mean, is dance supposed to be "inside" the music, so to speak; to what extent
are you supposed to break out of that and explore movement related to the
music?
Well, many choreographers work different ways, and when I
studied, it was pretty much that you had to dance to the music. But, I feel,
and I have heard others say this, too, that dance should be the primary
language, not the music. We're so used to thinking, Well the music is like
this, so let's do what the music tells us to do. Instead, though, maybe - well,
some people want to give a message and some people don't - but maybe what you
want to say, whether it's abstract or not, should be told by the movement, not
the music.
So what's the role of music, then?
Sometimes it can be like a film score, in the background, to
give a certain atmosphere. I also feel that music can be very manipulative to
the audience. The audience could be seeing a movement and if the music gets to
be very dramatic, they are led to think that it's this dramatic moment. But if
you were to put the same movement to different music or no music, they wouldn't
have that expectation.
When you're dancing,
you're in public, and yet I imagine that the choreography comes from something
that you needed to project from within. What is the line when you dance between
the public and the private, the interior and the exterior, the display and the
hidden personality?
Well, I think it depends on the piece…
Once I performed a solo, and it was for my father who had passed away. For me,
it was a very personal thing, but I don't think people would know it was about
my father. I performed it in a space where I was confined to a little corner. I
didn't really have a lot of space, and the audience was sitting very close to
me. Before, I used to think more in terms of "stage" and "audience," but I
think that the more I evolve in my work, the more I want to play with that
relationship - either have the audience really close and really look at me
closely, or not care about the audience, and do something where I'm not
thinking about them. It depends on the piece. In that particular piece, I think
the fact that they were so close to me may not have meant that they knew it was
about my father - or maybe they didn't care - but I think the audience gets the
sense that it's something personal. I'm looking at this person moving and
breathing right here in front of me, they think. I think that even just that
relationship makes something happen.
How much
does space play a part in your dance?
I think a lot. I've been
trying to play more with it. It's hard with dance because I think we are all so
used to seeing it on the stage. I think that is also why I'm kind of moving
away from performing dance in the sense of it being on the stage. I'm much more
interested in doing things that are more... I used to hate performance art, and
I think I still kind of do. But I like that freedom of knowing that you're not
confined to doing a perfect leg up, and you know you have to be on the stage,
but there is much more play with space, with props.
What is the relationship that you see in your own work between
physical movement and motion video?
Well, I'm exploring that,
actually. I was always a dancer, but then I decided apply to graduate school at
the Studio for Interrelated Media (at the Massachusetts College of Art and
Design). I didn't think I was going to get in, and when I did, this whole world
opened up to me. When I first got there I began to wonder why I was there.
People around me would ask, "You're a dancer, why are you here?" So I just
started to explore what the camera does and I how I could get my body involved.
At first I was really confused, because I thought, I'm not doing dance, I'm
doing video. But a lot of my professors at the time said, "You're still using
your body, your using your body to express something." So I'm working with
that, exploring. I don't know if I can answer your question yet because I'm
still working it out.
Do you try and use some
of that exploratory spirit here with your students?
I definitely
do. I haven't brought any of the video into the class, but I learn a lot from
my students. I think that they need to be pushed al little bit, but in return,
when I push them, they push me back. It's a constant conversation. Right now
I'm working on a piece for the spring concert, and I told my Modern class that
I don't have a plan. I gave them a couple of tasks to come up with something
and now we're trying to come up with a whole dance together. Just by watching
what they do, I get ideas about what we might happen if we do this, and now I
have more of an idea about what we're going to do.
Do you still teach your students to do a perfect leg up
though?
No.
You don't? So you
allow them to move away from that? To express themselves rather than learn the
tradition and then modify it?
Well, I teach them to do technique
correctly because I think it's important so that they don't get injured. But I
always tell them, you don't have bring your leg up perfectly. I do want to see
a knee straight because it's better for your body and it's going to make the
line better. Train your body, then you can break away from it.
You mention in a couple of the pieces that you've done that
you're talking about your own identity. You're Mexican American?
Mexican, actually. I was born in Mexico City.
What brought you to this country?
Well, I have
an aunt that lives here and my Mom, when I graduated from high school in
Mexico, said she would give me a year off, and with that year I had to figure
out what I wanted to do. "If you don't want to do dance," she said, "that's
fine, but if you do…" So, we traveled a little bit in Europe - she had to
go there, so I went with her - and then we stopped here on our way back, to
visit my aunt. My aunt said that she had found out about this school here and
this school there, and I ended up auditioning for a couple of them. I ended up
at the Boston Conservatory.
How much do you
hold onto you Mexican identity? Have you adopted an American identity? Is there
a point when you imagine you would consider yourself Mexican American?
I want to say that I live inside my Mexican identity, but my
husband would disagree. He's always telling me, "You've been her for more than
twenty years!" Some of my friends, just to tease me, say "We don't even think
you're Mexican!" See, I don't like spicy food, for example…
What?!
I don't like spicy food! I never did, even when I lived in Mexico [laughs].
But I grew up there, so a lot of who I am has been shaped by what I did there.
In my teenage years, though, in the eighties, we totally rebelled against
Mexican music. We only listened to, you know, music from the U.S. or from
England, which was the cool thing to do. So I think that I've always been
influenced by American or English culture in some way. As a result, my
transition here wasn't that hard in that sense, although I hung on to some
things that are more Mexican. I'm totally infatuated with the Virgen de
Guadalupe, for example. I've got a big collection that just sort of connects
me. My son's middle name is Guadalupe! And I like Mexican music much more since
I got here. There are certain things that I'm trying to keep.
So by being outside your culture, you appreciated what was
there a little bit more?
Definitely.
Luchadora (Wrestler), a
piece that appears on our website, is a humorous take on a whole bunch of
things, on a lot of the positions that you probably occupy - being a woman,
being Mexican, Mexican American, seeing from afar the Mexican luchadores, the
boxeo. How do you think that your piece helps you to understand some of those
positions, or at least question them?
It blends all the stuff that I've
been influenced by. One of the main images in the piece is Wonder Woman. When I
was little, I thought I was Wonder Woman. I would go out in the street in my
swimsuit and a cape that I made. My mom was totally embarrassed, but I really,
really thought I was Wonder Woman - a totally American icon, right? That's what
there is in the piece: there is this American icon, she is a woman, a powerful
woman. And then there are also the images of luchadores and luchadoras -
although mostly luchadores. I think that's all blended in the piece: there I
am, I have a Virgen de Guadalupe cape, a luchadora mask, but I'm also in a
superhero outfit and I'm fighting. In one part of the piece my friend is
sitting on the couch, bored, watching TV, and then I come in, the Luchadora who
brings the fun. She doesn't even know her own strength - when we're dancing, I
push her too hard and I don't even realize my own strength.
It's an interesting juxtaposition: the Virgen de Guadalupe, who
could be considered a kind of "wonder woman" - she was an image that inspired a
class that didn't have a voice, she inspired a revolution - and Wonder Woman,
who inspired you. Was that something that you were aware of when you made the
piece, or was it one of those odd artistic discoveries?
I think
I saw it once it was there. I didn't do it on purpose, and yet I saw it once I
made it. I think there are a lot of people here who identify with the Virgen de
Guadalupe; for lots of immigrants, the Virgen de Guadalupe gives them something
to hold onto. Also a lot of people in prison, a lot of men, have the Virgen de
Guadalupe tattooed on their backs. That was the other thing that I saw when I
saw the piece: that I have this huge image on my back that offers full
protection. I have Wonder Woman on the front and the other image on the back.
But I didn't really do it on purpose at the time.
How about Mojada? It's a less frenetic piece really, more
introspective, and you play with 'mojada' as meaning 'wet' but also 'wetback'-
so you're playing with ideas about border crossings, about insides and
outsides. What were you working towards in that piece?
It helps
to understand the whole piece. In it, I'm standing and I am wearing a bunch of
layers of white clothing. I take off the first layer of clothing and there's a
word, I think it was "little," and then I take off the next layer and it says
"Mexican." As I'm taking these clothes off, I put them in a bucket filled with
water. The last layer says "mojada." I end up in my underwear, which is red. I
picked certain colors: white, red, and the water is green - the colors of the
flag. After I put all the layers in the water, I step inside the bucket and
take the clothes out. They have become green because of the dye in the water.
When I try to put them on, the words have disappeared; I have washed them
clean.
What I was thinking about in the piece was how people look at me
from the outside. They see this little Mexican, maybe a 'wetback,' maybe not,
and all the stereotypes that come with the color. There are so many stereotypes
that we all deal with. Like I always hear "Oh, you're so little" - and I am
little - but there's always this "cute" factor that goes with little. "Oh, look
at this cute little Mexican" - that's how people may describe me. And so I
wanted to do this piece about washing it all away.
In a still image from that piece - I don't know if it was from
the opening or what, but there are clotheslines all around. Is that part of the
installation?
Right. That image is from a performance I did, and
then I did a video of the performance as part of my thesis. There were really
two projects: one of them was to have the video up and the other had all these
clotheslines all over. The idea was to have people enter, to make it so that
nobody could see the video unless they went through the clothes. For me, it was
an image of borders, borders that you have to cross. I had this idea that I
would put pens around and people would be able to write different stereotypical
words, but I ended not doing that, thinking that maybe it was too much.
I love in this conversation how it's not as if
the artistic image springs full-born from your head like Athena, but that it's
something made up, that you don't even maybe know what to expect. One other
question: We've been speaking entirely in English. I imagine that you speak
Spanish, having been born in Mexico. Where would you see the line between your
identity as expressed in English and in Spanish? Is there a different persona?
Do you find yourself being in two different worlds? Is there a difference?
I think there is a difference. When I go to Mexico, I feel much
more at ease in some way. Once I'm there - and this may be an exaggeration -I
almost want to cry because I feel like I'm me. And yet I don't feel like I'm
not me when I'm here and I am speaking English. It's so familiar, and now I
feel totally comfortable in English. I think I dream in English most of the
time. I have a couple friends from Mexico, and when we first became friends,
which was maybe five years ago, I had a hard time speaking Spanish. They would
make fun of me because I always speak in English. And also now that I have a
son, I have been making a point of only speaking to him in Spanish.
Why?
I just think it's because
that's who he is. He's a mix of these two cultures, and I want to be able to
have this conversation with him, who he is, where I'm from. And why not? Is it
such a bad thing in this world to be bilingual? |
