Vicente Montañez Ritual Mayan--Continues our Series of Artists of OtE: 2nd International Latine/X Performance Art Festival!

 

Vicente Montañez was my first addition to the original On the Edge performers list back in 2016, when Lauren Davis of La Sala asked me if I wanted to put my dreams into action. I had met him just a week before at some art party in Pioneer Square. We hit it off immediately and I was intrigued by his performances which were a unique mix of classic Mexican themes and contemporary technologies. When it came time to move ahead with the second of the series of events, it was clear that NeoVicente had to be a part of this!

Xavier: Hello, Vicente, please take a moment to introduce yourself and describe your artwork for us. Do you consider yourself primarily a performance artist? If not, what other forms of artwork do you do?

Vicente Montañez: I am an actor and theatre director, primarily. I do mime and pantomime and under my Studio Form Movement “ Laboratory of Physical Actions” I train professional and amateurs in physical expression and physical theatre for mime, acting and dance. Besides Theatre and Mime, I am a painter and I do electronic music, graphic design, web design and development.

Xavier: Awesome! How long have you been working as a performance artist? How did you start? Do you have any formal training, or do you have connections to a specific school or theory/ies of performance?

Vicente Montañez: I have been a resident of the Pacific Northwest for the past 30 years. I was born in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico in 1964. I joined my first company theatre when I was 13 years old in 1977—Compañia Los Clásicos del Teatro. There, I performed musicals and children’s theatre. I was immediately interested in mime and that next year in 1978 I was invited to create a mime company—the Compañia de Pantomima Yesterday. For six years I was with both companies and traveled all over the country performing and participating in mime and theatre festivals.

In the 80’s I met two of the most influential teachers in my artistic career,  Sigfrido Aguilar

and Rodrido Villamil. I met Rodrigo Villamil as an art student in CEDART school in Morelia, when they founded their home group TIET: Taller de Investigacion y Experimentacion Teatral.  This group became the most innovative group in Morelia, Mexico and was nationally and

internationally honored and recognized.

They established a school dedicated to theatrical investigation and experimentation and created the first department of Investigation and Theatrical Documentation.

At the same time, I also met Sigfrido Aguilar, and I studied in his studio and assisted in several international workshops conducted by Sigfrido Aguilar of Mime and Corporeal Expression. Sigfrido is considered one of the best teachers of Mime, Pantomime and clowning in the world, and also created the National and International Festival of Mime in Mexico.

 From 1986 to 1994 I was part of the COLECTIVO ARTISTICO MORELIA AC. This collective is in charge of sponsoring and promoting art and culture throughout, through events such as the

National and International Festival of Mime in Mexico, workshops, Symposiums, in Literature, Theatre, Mime, Music, TV and Radio.

 

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

Vicente Montañez: My kind of theatre is original and besides having been trained in different techniques I have created my own techniques, combining mime, dance, and theatre.

I am motivated to participate in this festival to support the arts and promote theatre in its physical form as well as the desire to educate others about Performance art.

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

Vicente Montañez: I am performing in this festival doing two different performances from my most recent creation: Seres Imaginarios, this is physical theatre and Hunab Ku and The Twenty Sacred Signs of The Ritual, this is Ritual Theatre.

To me this is a fantastic opportunity to show my artwork to a larger artistic community.

 

Xavier: Going back to childhood--what is your earliest memory of making something artistic--do you think that there is any connection to what you do now?

Vicente Montañez: In school, in my artistic classes, painting, modeling sculptures and participating in theatrical sketches I realized I had passion for performance.

Xavier: What things do you keep coming back to in your work--what are your greatest obsessions?

Vicente Montañez: My obsession is to improve my art every single day .

Xavier: What do you consider your greatest achievement and what are your goals for the future?

Vicente Montañez: My greatest achievement? I have trained a lot of amateur and professional artists and my art inspires other artists. My goal is to continue theatre and education and possibly one day to create the first International Festival of Physical Theatre in Seattle.

Xavier: Are there any artists/performers who have inspired your work?

Vicente Montañez: Eugenio Barba, great visionary in Theatre teaching and performing, Antonin Artaud, the great theatre prophet, Tristan Tzara, the creator of the Dada movement, Salvador Dali and the surrealist artists, Marcel Marceau creator of Pantomime technique and Étienne Decroux, creator of Mime.

Xavier: That is an impressive list! What projects do you have lined up for the future?

Vicente Montañez: Seres Imaginarios is my most recent creation and it is still in progress! I want to take it to Mexico and Europe. Also, for many years I have been working with ritual theatre and I want to bring to the world my performances Ritual Maya and Hunab Ku and the Twenty Sacred Signs of the Ritual.

Xavier: Do you believe in love? What is your definition of magic?

Vicente Montañez: Love is an idea, and the word is only arbitrary. Magic is real and is in front of us every single day and only through our consciousness is possible to perceive it.

Xavier: What do you consider your greatest artistic achievement so far?

Vicente Montañez: Being part of this magnificent event!

Xavier: As an artist, what is your greatest fear?

Vicente Montañez: To give a horrible performance.

Xavier: What is your greatest hope?

Vicente Montañez: I hope to get a space in Seattle to practice, where I can continue training artists and performing.

Xavier: Thank you so much for your time and for being part of this festival, which I genuinely believe is an important point in Seattle History.

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.