We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephanie García. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephanie below.
Stephanie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
As I observe the world around me, I find myself questioning whether art still holds relevance in this complex time for humanity. This is a question that has been on my mind since I first embarked on my artistic journey. The truth is that art does not serve any practical purpose, but at the same time, I believe that art is everything. The arts are an infinite space shaped by the limitless imagination, dreams, and desires of artists striving for a better world.
In my case, a career in the arts was not something that was expected of a child from a working-class family. However, life has a way of surprising us, and I found dance, or rather, the arts found me.
The perception of the arts has not changed much, as far as I can tell. Many families still prefer their children to choose a profession that guarantees financial stability and social recognition, even if it means sacrificing their happiness. This way of thinking still baffles me because it fails to acknowledge art-making as a productive activity. With this, I am not referring to people who work in other fields and make art in their free time. I am talking about artists who devote 100% of their time to their art and can make a living from it. Although the creative industries are recognized as significant contributors to the gross domestic product of nations worldwide, very few artists can make a living solely from their art. This indicates a disconnect between how we value the role of art and artists in our society and how this affects our understanding of the economic dimension of the arts.
The second issue is how our values are based on a narrow definition of what constitutes “success,” which often overlooks components of human well-being. Enjoying what you do and being passionate about it are some of these components. Devoting one’s life to the arts may be daunting to many, but if we examine our complex realities, we will find that the arts are one of the few activities that can keep us grounded and connected to our humanity.
Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am an artist, arts administrator, and arts advocate from Mexico. I was born and raised in Mexico City, where I discovered my passion for the arts thanks to my mother. I pursued my studies in contemporary dance at the Classical and Contemporary National Dance School, which is part of the National Fine Arts Institute of Mexico. Since 2004, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the most renowned Mexican choreographers, festivals, and venues, as well as international choreographers. I have performed in 11 countries across America, Europe, and Africa, and have choreographed over 30 original pieces. My work as a multidisciplinary artist involves dance, video, film, choreography, and performance art.
I have been fortunate in my career as my work has been recognized and funded by various organizations and programs from different countries such as the USA, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, and my beloved country, Mexico.
I am co-founder, and co-director of Punto de Inflexión Dance Company and PROArtes México, an organization with which I have continued my work as an arts advocate which I started in 2008. Since then, I have facilitated local and international art exchanges between Mexican artists and countries like Uruguay, Cuba, Panama, Brazil, Israel, Spain, Austria, Peru, Colombia, Tunisia, and the US.
I moved to the USA in the middle of the pandemic, to study for my MFA in Dance and a Screen Dance Certificate from the University of Utah. I also have studies in Cultural Management from Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG) and Internacional Cultural Policies from the Organization of American States (OAS), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), and the National Arts Center in Mexico City.
I stayed on the path of the arts because I discovered the potential art has bound up with individual reflection to affect the experience. As an artist, my practice exposes others to alternative states of knowing by creating abstract theatrical representations of the broader human condition and encouraging an audience’s experiential and empathetic engagement with the concepts and topics of my concern. I am interested in creating striking metaphors that evoke reflections by selecting the appropriate symbols in the meaning-making process. Meaning produces emotion, and emotion makes people reinterpret phenomena and care in new ways. For me, the goal of art is to elicit change. My practice involves the creation of pieces that demand active intellectual and emotional participation from the viewer. It is an invitation to become vulnerable together.
Currently, I am also a member of the U40 Mexico Network under the 2030 UNESCO initiative, the Latinx Hispanic Dancers United, The Latin American Interdisciplinary Gender Network (Yale/CIEG UNAM), and recently joined the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM).
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
You know? I could mention many common places like “I have discovered my passion,” or “arts have taken me to places I never imagined to travel,” or awards and recognition. But this is not the point, at least for me. There is enough of Adorno’s philosophy in my mind where I find questionable certain types of art that are mass demanded tending to its vulgarization through its commercialization and obsession for public validation. And commercialization, I do not mean only the economic exchange for what you do but whichever contributes to this process (marketing, media, etc). This does not mean artists should not be valued and compensated for their work but there is such a thin and delicate line where this is transgressed.
I believe arts, as education, are a way to broaden perspectives which I consider fundamental for human understanding. The arts have shown me perspectives that I may have never considered before. I also believe that life in the arts builds character, resiliency, listening, understanding, and the ability to work collectively. These skills are translated (applied) to any other aspect of life.
I firmly believe that the arts make you a better person. They teach you to engage in dialogue even when you disagree and to work towards finding common ground when things don’t go as planned. Unfortunately, our current neoliberal system often discourages this type of dialogue and values conformity over creativity.
Many people don’t like certain artists because they often challenge the status quo and reveal uncomfortable truths through their work. However, it is precisely this type of art that I find most interesting and thought-provoking. It forces us to reflect on our own nature, our reality, and our interactions with others. Personally do not lean toward art expressions that reflect the commodity human beings we have chosen to live in. I love powerful, meaningful, and intelligent works of art that go beyond pre-established canons and push me instead of keeping me in my comfort zone.
The arts have taught me that change is a natural part of life, and it’s okay to alter my perspective. We are not static beings; if we were, we would be lifeless. Art has shown me that in order to improve and achieve true happiness and balance, we must question, reflect, acknowledge our mistakes, and work hard to become better human beings.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I discovered the arts through contemporary dance, which formed the basis of my art education. While I found the arts to be a source of endless possibilities, I also learned that certain practices and behaviors in the arts field are rooted in colonialism. Even dance aesthetics and pedagogies are not immune to this. As time passed and I moved away from my hometown and culture, I had the opportunity to observe and identify how these dynamics operate on me. Thanks to the arts, love, my education, traveling, and a respectful curiosity about other people and cultures, I have been able to practice unlearning and, as Mignolo suggests, the praxis of “ongoing undoing of colonization.” In a world where genocide, wars, xenophobia, and oppression are still part of our social systems, I consider it fundamental to look at these aspects of life, and how they affect us in our society and artistic practices instead of feeding the false idea of a twisted idea of freedom that has tried to impose a failed neoliberalism that is destroying our natural world and our capacity of being empathic and valuing life over profit. This requires constant effort and self-reflection to identify and eliminate the ways in which we contribute to oppression, discrimination, and injustice not only in our social lives or our artistic practices but in the way we see life.
Future plans.
Because we are so close to starting a new cycle, I want to invite the LA and metro area audiences to the shows my dance company, Punto de Inflexión will participate in in early January.
We were invited by curator Barbara Mueller-Wittmann to participate in the 7th Edition of Dance at the Odyssey Festival at Odyssey Theatre located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.
Punto de Inflexión (mex/usa) will present the “3×3” program.
Three pieces, three reflections. The Mexican company Punto de Inflexión directed by Stephanie García brings us a program where the feminine and deep human emotions are exposed.
downcast (2021) is a work where three beings dwell in undefined spaces at the edge of light and darkness as a metaphor for the duality that inhabits human experience.
Incandescent is a solo work created and performed by Stephanie García where embodied contradiction guides the complex imbalance life shows us from time to time.
Abrirse el Cuerpo (2022) is inspired by María Lugones’ “plurality of selves” that coexist in an individual and a continuous reflection on the ongoing creative investigation of gender violence against women and identities not aligned with the colonial project.
Performers: Leslie Jara, Josephine Kolbeck, Angeline Bourgealt, Stephanie García
Produced with the support of the Sistema de Apoyos a la Creación y Proyectos Culturales of Mexico.
When? January 26-27 (8 pm), & Jan 28th (2 pm) 2024
Where? Odyssey – Theatre 1. 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.
Promo: https://vimeo.com/894278799
More info: https://odysseytheatre.com/
THANKS!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stephaniegarcia.art/
- Instagram: @de_inflexion & @stephgarmar