On 13 and 14 May, at the Conde Duque Cultural Centre, Laura Ramirez Ashbaugh presents a performance that reflects on the body as a space of resistance, perception and transformation.
In a context marked by overstimulation and social anxiety, the artist explores how the body chemically reacts to the tensions of the present. Her work is not organised as a linear narrative, but as a physical and emotional experience in constant flux. Adrenaline and cortisol (hormones associated with survival and stress) become the invisible drivers of a movement that does not seek to be observed, but embodied.
Ramírez Ashbaugh conceives of the body as a sensor that, when confronted with disturbing images and situations, transforms itself to survive. Her artistic proposal questions the boundary between the physical and the mystical, showing an anatomy that becomes unbalanced, dissolving and reconfiguring itself in the face of an environment that permeates it in real time. The result is a kind of 'inner cinema', where the gaze acts like a gunshot: it blinks, cuts out the world and produces visions that beat to the rapid rhythms of the heart.
The piece also suggests the need to collectively look at the ruins of the present. The displacements and metamorphoses that are triggered not only affect the body that moves, but also those who observe: the spectator becomes a witness to the chemical and emotional resonance of another body in their environment.
Laura Ramírez Ashbaugh is a choreographer and dancer who graduated in physical theatre from RESAD in Madrid and from the Martha Graham School in New York (United States). Above all, her productions are based on ideas about the landscape, the ambiguous body and the spaces in between.
She has collaborated on pieces by María Jerez, Cris Blanco, Play Dramaturgia and Quim Bigas. And she has embarked on a career as a DJ and developed studio projects such as MovLab at La Casa Encendida, as well as reading projects such as EL CLUB at Teatros del Canal. Furthermore, she leads workshops and movement classes and collaborates with the Education Department of the Reina Sofía Museum.
Artistic credits:
- Concept, choreographer and performer - Laura Ramirez Ashbaugh
- Mentorship and dramatisation - Bryana Fritz
- Sound - Fernanda Libman
- Lighting design - Pablo Fontdevilla
- Performance space - Javi Cruz
- Wardrobe - Evdehouse
- External Eye - Amparo González Sola, Leandro Souza and Fernanda Libman
- Sculptures - Marina Gonzalez Guerreiro
- Production - Clara Aguilar (Las Amigas)
Duration: 1 hour
Recommended age: suitable for all ages
