Interview with Dhyana Garcia! Continuing our focus on OtE: 2nd International Latinx Performance Art Festival Artists!

Xavier: Our series on the artists of On the Edge: 2^nd Latine/x Performance Art Festival continues with the amazing Butoh Artist Dhyana Garcia one of the founders of Seattle’s own Daipan Butoh.   

Hi, Dhyana, thank you for taking the time to be interviewed for our focus, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your practice?

Dhyana Garcia: I am a performing artist and also a teaching artist. My work focuses on the healing process and uses Butoh movement as its primary form. I see movement as a transformative and healing practice. During my performances, my process is about memories, stories, not just from my life but from other people around me also.

I have been fascinated by Butoh since 2005 and right now I am exploring performance art and would like to do more visual art. My background is modern, contemporary dance, ballet as well as graphic design. I feel I am in a transitional moment. I don't dance as I used to and right now my performance is about process, about my own integrative process.

 

Xavier:  Wonderful, how long have you been working as a performance artist? How did you start? And do you have any formal training, or do you have connections to a specific school or theory, theories of performance?

Dhyana Garcia: I have been mainly working as a dance and performing artist since I was really young, and I have done performance art on various occasions here in Seattle and Chicago. I think I started performing because I enjoy being seen, and there is a type of attention or consciousness that appears when one is in front of an audience - it is such a unique and powerful force that keeps me coming back to the stage and also to the experimental scene.

I started performing at 5 years old. I remember wearing a chicken costume, my big dance role was to open the curtain so people could see the performance. I loved it and felt special.

My formal training is in classical ballet from age 5 to 22 and then Jose Limón modern dance technique; all these in Mexico City. Then in 1999 I moved to Chicago to study at Columbia College and studied various modern and contemporary dance styles.

In 2008, I graduated with an MFA in dance from the University of Washington and started researching more about Butoh.

 

Xavier: How would you describe your own performative work? What is performance art to you? What about it motivates you to be part of its rich history?

Dhyana Garcia: I can describe my performative work as introspective and as self-exploratory. 

For me, performance art is an interdisciplinary, ritualistic practice of body expression that can be done anywhere, it is not limited to a stage or a formal venue. Performance art for me is a courageous practice of being present in-front of others no matter the consequences. During the time of the actual performance, I often feel completely vulnerable and yet very powerful. It is a very unique sensation.

What motivates me to be part of this deep history of performance art is the ability to connect with other artists that are also willing to expand their creative and perceptual boundaries and express themselves fully. For me performance art practice is a great personal and community integration tool. It creates a safe container to explore and express aspects of our true self, which is something we may not be able to do often in our daily life.

Xavier: Can you describe the performance or performances that you will be doing with us? How does it fit into the bigger picture of your work?

Dhyana Garcia: It is definitely going to include memories about my mom who just passed away. And I like to use the space, the gallery, as a sacred space. I really enjoy making site-specific work; the place, the land and the soil are great inspirations to me.

How does this fit into the bigger picture of my work? This fits because I want to honor my mom's memory and legacy. It is a way to integrate and process grief.

I want to investigate what specific objects that belong to her mean to me and what I do with them. So, memories and emotions stored in the body are really important in this piece.

Xavier: Wow! My Mamita passed away this year as well.  Looks like we should dedicate this entire event to the mothers, both living and passed, who nurtured within us the seeds of our artistic voices.  Here’s to our mothers and all they have brought into the world!

On the Edge: 2nd International Latinx Performance Art Festival is supported by LadyPants Productions, CoCA Center on Contemporary Art, The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture,  La Sala, 4Culture, Xavier Lopez and DJ Name. The event will occur over 3days from October 5th--7th.