Residency week 20 / 2024

In residency week 20, we have interdisciplinary dance artist Valentina Martínez with her project Synthesis. Synthesis is a choreographic exploration that examines the complexities of cultural assimilation, and is a work with Martínez herself and Yordano Bulgar as performers. The project focuses on the varied ways in which individuals adapt and navigate through unfamiliar cultural landscapes. Inspired by the dynamics of modern Latin jazz, the duet explores how an individual’s cultural identity can be both simplified and transformed through the process of cultural synthesis and assimilation.

The term ‘synthesis’ is used here to illustrate assimilation’s nature of reduction and simplification, while ‘assimilation’ describes the process as an absorption – a bodily experience of merging with new culture.

Photo: Dan Skjæveland

Synthesis is planned for premiere during the Oslo Jazz Dance Festival 2024, where the duet will contribute to the festival’s goal of promoting innovative and diverse expressions within jazz dance. This work promises not only a visual celebration of the form of dance, but also a deeper reflection on personal and cultural convergence.

Contributors

Consept og Choreography: Valentina Martínez Mariscal, Yordano Bulgar
Performers: Valentina Martínez Mariscal, Yordano Bulgar

About the artists

Valentina Martínez (MX/NO) is an interdisciplinary dance artist. As a performer, she has experience of performing in a number of contemporary dance productions, such as Andy de Groat’s Danse des fanes at the National Dance Center (Centre National de la Danse) in Paris and Linda Mila’s choreography of Opera Faust at Olavshallen, Impossible actions, ALDA, Basic Stich and Weather Forecast. She has also shown her own works, CROSSINGS and Welcoming acts at various festivals. Martinez is interested in the historical development of jazz dance and in her work explores earthy movements, rhythm, expression and Latin crossings of Afro-Cuban, jazz and contemporary dance. Valentina has a dual practice as a dance artist and as a researcher in relational art and micro-political urban practice as a form of artistic activism. She is a member of Tenthaus, an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and socially committed artist collective based in Oslo.

Yordano Bulgar (CU/NO) is a contributing choreographer and dancer at Synthesis. Bulgar is a street dancer from Havana based in Oslo who came second in the Cuban “So you think you can dance”, where he only competed with professional dancers. Of course, immediately after the TV program he was picked up by Cuba’s most prestigious dance company, Lizt Alfonso, where he received professional training before moving to Norway in 2019. Yordano is a completely unique and naturally talented dancer. He teaches salsa in Oslo and performs in Norway.

Both Martínez Mariscal and Bulgar have extensive experience with Latin rhythms and are professional performers in Latin jazz and Latin American genres. Their artistic journey and skills add unique depth to Synthesis, helping to enrich the dialogue about cultural assimilation through movement and rhythmic expression.