Juana Ortega Kippes (ES/AR)

She specialises in hand balancing and contortion, which she studied in Brussels with Slava Kukushkin (ESAC), alongside contemporary dance at DansCentrumJette. She later moved to Toulouse, where she continued her training with Pascal Angelier (Le Lido). At the same time, she developed an interest in Butoh dance, through which she deepened her contortion practice and explored experimental approaches. She has collaborated with artists such as Jérôme Thomas and the company Impulsos. She leads workshops and develops her own creations through her company JÅNIKA.

Her prototype is Amphibian matter. (time 25 min)
Amphibia Matter has been developed in an immersion residency in the codfish packaging and distribution industry in Ilhavo, Portugal, together with Bússola.

AMPHIBIAN MATTER is the result of documented research into the overfishing of cod in Portugal, using the sea as a landscape and combining photography, performance, projections and circus.
The project is based on collective memory.
Its aim is to propose a space where we can actively decide/create/write memory through a scenic process.
A blue-faced creature wearing a fisherman’s coat welcomes the audience to an unusual photographic exhibition: a 25-meter-long fishing net displayed in the space, filled with images of industrial fish processing and its factory. A soundscape produced from recordings of the factory and the recreation of boat noises is present.
This character, based on half-fish and half-human physicalities, pulls a Polaroid camera out of a bucket, embarking us on a collective experience: the memory of a future.
The act itself highlights how we all contribute to our history through the way we remember it.
Through contortion, hand balancing and movement, this proposition invites the spectator to plunge into the depths of the ocean for an encounter beyond.

^{AMPHIBIANS
In biological research and knowledge, Amphibians are known as indicator species;
They are extremely sensitive to changes in the environment and can give scientists valuable insight into how an ecosystem is functioning. And because amphibians are both predators and prey, many other animals are affected by them. Thus, they indicate exactly the codependence within and between all ecosystems. And they are facing, what experts are calling an “amphibian apocalypse."}