Mal Pelo, whose artistic co-directors are
Pep Ramis and
María Muñoz, is a creative performance group formed in 1989. It is characterized by its shared authorship, based on the dialogue they establish with artists from different disciplines (dance, philosophy, music, audiovisual arts…).
Throughout its long career it has developed its own artistic language through movement and the creation of com- positions that include texts, original soundtracks, live music, the design of sets, lighting and video, among other performance tools. The symbiosis between all these encourages us to perceive the space through a unique and attentive listening to bodies and objects, creating a personal universe that features an amalgamation of movements and stimuli. This turns their work into a kind of dance-essay, to be understood through a dialogue between the body, the text and sound.
María Muñoz and
Pep Ramis have found, on stage, an ideal place to channel their need to experiment, ask questions and share the themes that have been vital to their work.
A continual workshop on ellipsis, subtraction, absence and waiting, which form the underlying backbone of the whole poetic parabola of
Mal Pelo: their pieces are sleepless nights, on the eve of something, fragile conjuring of a presence, hunts in still-life.
Roberto Frattini about
Mal Pelo work
Mal Pelo has presented, among others, the pieces Quarere (1989), Sur Perros del Sur (1992), Dol (1994), La Calle del Imaginero (1996), Orache (1998), El Alma del Bicho (1999), L’animal a l’esquena (2001), Atrás los ojos (2002), An el silenci (2003), BACH (2004), ATLAS (2005), Testimoni de llops (2006), He visto caballos (2008) , Tots els noms (2010), Caín & Caín (2011), L’esperança de vida d’una llebre (2013), El cinquè hivern (2015), 7 Lunas (2015), The Mountain, the Truth and the Paradise ( 2017), On Goldberg Variations / Variations (2019), Inventions (2020), Highlands (2021), De haber nacido (2023) and Double Infinite (2023).
In the course of its career,
Mal Pelo has had the good fortune to be able to work with such distinguished artists as
John Berger,
Erri de Luca,
Lisa Nelson,
Àngels Margarit, Steve Noble, Nuria Font,
Steve Paxton,
Eduard Fernández,
Andrés Corchero,
Toni Serra, Lilo Baur,
Cesc Gelabert,
Faustin Linyekula,
Raffaella Giordano, Baro D’Evel,
Leonor Leal, El
Niño de Elche,
Marta Izquierdo, among others
Its work has won various awards, including the Premi Nacional de Cultura de Catalunya (National Arts Prize of Cat- alonia), the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona (City of Barcelona Prize) and the Premio Nacional de Cultura (National Arts Prize) for its work both in choreographic creation and in opening up new paths in contemporary dance.
In 2001,
María Muñoz and
Pep Ramis set up the project L’animal a l’esquena, a centre for creation and research based at Mas Espolla in Celrà, Gerona. The center bases its work around the intersection of different disciplines and interests, encouraging an exchange of ideas between artists through creation residencies. Its geographic lo- cation emphasizes the artists’ relationship with their environment, intensifying the potential for new dialogues between art and nature.
http://malpelo.org