There are those who have called them the Spanish Rosas, for the intensity and distinctiveness of a quest that has seen them among the most prominent protagonists of contemporary Catalan dance.
We are of course talking about Mudances, the Spanish female group led by Angels Margarit. Born in Terrassa in 1960, Margarit studied like many of her fellow dancers at the Theatre Institute in Barcelona, deepening her training abroad between New York, France, England and Germany. From '78 to '84 she danced with the company Heura, a group that won the National Dance Prize of Catalonia in '83. With the duet 'Duna 12', Margarit won the 1983 Tortola Valencia Prize as choreographer.
Together with four other dancers, she started Mudances in '85. The first work of the young female company takes its title from the group's name. One year after its creation, 'Mudances' won the National Dance Prize of Catalonia. Other creations by Margarit include 'Kolbebasar' ('88), which was performed all over Europe, and the 'Solo para habitación de hotel' series, intriguing solo choreographies set in hotel rooms. In '91, he opened the Mudances collective to male dancers, signing 'Atzavara', a balanced and ardent work.
At the 1992 Lyon Dance Biennial, Angels Margarit presented her latest solo creation: it is entitled 'Corol.la' and already has numerous international successes to its credit.
Initially, the project was to result in a trilogy in which the materials addressed by Margarit in her latest choreographies would be explored. The result is a 45-minute solo, full of small compositional gems.
Constructed in pictures, 'Corol.la' plays with an abstract movement code, inscribed in a set design with a frequent 'naive' flavour. Large coloured flowers form the backdrop to a dance that, especially in the first section, is constructed with impeccable gestural development dynamics. Skilled in thematic variation, Margarit is the author of a fluidly harmonious dance in which the movements chain one into the other with refined continuity. The circles, spirals and turns that govern the second part give way in the third to fragmented and interrupted movement. Changes of clothes and a few hints of dramatisation complete Margarit's poetic dance. "Corol.la", writes the Spanish dancer, "is an impulse that orders and disrupts the memory of my body".
