María Pagés creates ‘Utopía’ inspired
by Niemeyer’s architecture

The dancer premieres the show at the Niemeyer Centre in Avilés
on September 8th

María Pagés comes back to interdisciplinary dialogue as leitmotif of her creation. If in the past it was the poetry of Saramago, now is the architecture of Oscar Niemeyer what brings her inspiration. This new artistic exchange is the origin of 'Utopia', to be premiered on October 8th, 2011, at the Niemeyer Centre in Avilés (Asturias, Spain). The new production joins flamenco dancing, a curvilinear scenery and live original music, including the piece ‘Tranquilo com a vida' composed by Niemeyer himself, one of the most prestigious architects of the last century.

María Pagés, 'Utopía' (Photo Mariapages.com)

‘Utopía’, the new show by María Pagés, is presented as “an artistic and ethical research on nonconformity and yearning”. The work is about concepts as “solidarity, commitment, exile, the fleetingness of life”. And it also translates to dance “the littleness of man in a cosmos that is indifferent to his miseries and greatness and –now more necessary than ever– the need for imagination and idealism as the necessary motors of change”. 

In the words of María Pagés, the inspiration come from Oscar Niemeyer (Brasil 1907): “He reminded me that there are no hierarchies in humanity – we are all in the same, one and only dimension. Oscar reminded me that it is this equality that revives the hope of trying to change the world. Because we all laugh and weep. And we are all born and we all die”. These ideas are synthesized by the centennial artist writings about the utopia of immortality: “Life is but a breath. Everything comes to an end. I am told that after my passing, others will contemplate my work. But those people will also die. And others will come, who in turn will also go. Immortality is a fantasy, a way of forgetting reality. All that is important whilst we are here, is life, people. Embrace your friends, live happily. Change the world”.