Jesús Rubio Gamo

How do you start dancing when you have already learnt codes of movement? How do we unite and combine these codes to express what we are, what is happening to us right now? What do these codes from those who came before us have and what do they say about us today? These are questions Jesús Rubio Gamo asks himself. He is the author a choreographic research into the most basic and essential elements, a piece that looks for the greatness in the smallest things and opts for continuous movements and hypnotic repetition, using the performers’ bodies as instruments. They are bodies at the limit, pushed to that edge where they become more ductile, more connected, more receptive.

Three cantaoras and palmeras accompany the dancers on stage, at first, only with clapping and jaleos; then with cover versions of popular songs. The percussion of the clapping is an action of the utmost simplicity, an action that emanates from the body and acquires complexity when combined with the sung word and movement. Ultimately, there is only singing and dancing, exercises in maximum simplicity that, nonetheless, drive us towards sophistication, thus treading the path that this show intends to follow. In Simple Actions, the artist strips his dance of all non-essential elements. You will find no artifice or unnecessary resources on stage beyond these ‘simple actions’ that are repeated over and over again without a specific cause, acquiring depth to the same extent that the bodies consume energy, surpass their physical dimensions and project themselves beyond, allowing a certain spirituality to emerge, a dimension that transcends the carnal and mechanical, that shows the complexity born of an apparent simplicity.

Born in Madrid in 1982, Jesús Rubio Gamo has been creating his own choreography since 2008. He studied classical ballet, contemporary dance, theatre and literature, obtaining a scholarship to do a Master’s Degree in Choreography at the London Contemporary Dance School (The Place). He also has a Master’s in Performing Arts Practice and Visual Culture. His creations have been seen at some of the major dance festivals in Spain, Europe and South America and he has been selected two years in a row by the prestigious Aerowaves dance network, funded by the EU, from among the 20 most interesting young choreographers from across the continent. Among his best-known creations, Gran Bolero (2018/2019), his first large format piece with which he managed to partner the Teatros del Canal de Madrid with Mercat de les Flors de Barcelona. It was a piece for six Catalan performers and six performers from Madrid which focused on repetition, circularity and physical resilience taken to the edge. Nominated for the Butaca Awards in 2019 and winner of the Max Best Dance Show Award in 2020, that choreography placed Jesús Rubio Gamo in the sights not only of those critics most aware of new trends in contemporary dance but also the general public. In 2020, he received the Ojo Crítico Award from Radio Nacional de España.

Coproduced by the Barcelona El Grec 2021 Festival, Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Conde Duque de Madrid and Romaeuropa Festival.