The title conTRAcuerpo turns a single prefix into a choreographic argument. In Spanish, contra can indicate opposition, proximity (in front of), direction (towards), and exchange (in return for). Daniel Ramos builds his solo around that semantic field: dance becomes something he approaches, faces, resists, and earns—an art form that demands both devotion and conflict.

The work begins from a potent image: Ramos’s semidesnudo body as a blank canvas or empty box. As the performance unfolds, that “surface” gradually fills with memories, experiences, and contradictions. The dramaturgy is cumulative rather than narrative; identity appears through repetition and pressure, through the meeting of solemnity and play. Recognizable languages of danza española and flamenco are present, but they are continually interrupted by the spontaneous and the unexpected, allowing the audience to witness an artist refusing the comfort of a single label.

Music is central to that refusal. The stage is shared with a live ensemble—guitar (José Almarcha), violin (Víctor Guadiana), voice/cante (Juan Debel), and percussion (Epi Pacheco)—whose relationship to the dancer is explicitly interactive. At times they propel him; at others they test him, argue with him, or turn the moment toward humor. Stage direction by Noelia Rosa and lighting design by Alberto de las Heras sharpen the work’s shifts in tone and register, while costume design by Ramos and Ángela Lozano supports the idea of the body as site and stake.

conTRAcuerpo ultimately functions as a celebration with teeth: a solo about building a personal code from tradition—by moving towards it, against it, and through it, in real time.

Top photo: Courtesy the artist