Merce Matus

Dancer

La Merce, Marcos Matus, was born in Santiago de Chile and has lived in Madrid since 2017. They consider themselves as a non binary scenic muse. They are passionate about the vogue scene, runway and different artistic languages (visual and theatrical). Their work moves between dance, performance and choreography. They explore corporalities, poetry and narratives dissident to binary identities with an interest in embracing their own situation and other ways of understanding the body.

They have a master in Artistic Practices and Visual Culture, associated with ARTEA, University of Castilla – La Mancha and the Reina Sofía Museum (2018 – 2019). They have their studies in Art and Artistic Professions UC3M – CBA Madrid. They graduated in Dance from the University Cristian Academy of Humanism, Espiral Dance Center (2008 – 2012), they were a Fellow of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory Movimiento Sur (Danza – Arquitectura), International Platform for Contemporary Dance and the Performing Arts for Latin America (2014). They have their Tanztheater Pedagogy Studies from the Bolivariana University (2006) and Bachelor’s degree in Composition in Tanztheater from the National University of the Arts Argentina (2008). They produced and participated in the 1st Emerging Choreographic Methodologies Laboratory (2016 – 2018) associated with the Balmaceda Arte Joven Cultural Corporation, Chilean Institution dedicated to the Arts.

They have experimented in various art contexts and collaborated with a large number of art artists: multi-award winning film “A Fantastic Woman” winner of the Oscar for best foreign language film, directed by SebasPan Lelio. The album “Norma” by the Chilean singer songwriter Mon Laferte, winner of the LaPn Grammy for Best AlternaPva Music Album 2019. Costume Designers Daniel Bagnara and Lupe Gajardo. The Architects Juan Pablo Puigrredón and Constanza Quioza. The Directors of Teatro SebasPan De La Cuesta and Marcos Layera of Teatro La Re-sentida. Well-known choreographers; Jerome Bel (France), Philipp Gehmacher (Austria), Eduardo Fukushima (Brazil), Jhon Jasperse (USA), Gerardo Litvak (Argentina), Tomislav English (England), Pablo Rotemberg (Argentina), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Chile), Ariadna Monfort (Spain), Daphnis Kokkinnos (Greece), Luz Arcas (Spain), Marisa Lull and Javier Montero (Spain), Miquel Barcelona (Spain), among others.

They currently resides in Spain, where they work on their own creations and performance, their latest piece “Paseo para rastreras, reptiles y sinuousas” was premiered at the Festival IDEM 2022 of La Casa Encendida, where it addresses identity and states of being, queer politics through forms of agency, disinhibition and rematerialization of a body, overflowing the duality of the physical form and its representation, transfiguring it. and “ANÓMALAS” at Festivaln Dança a Deriva 2022, at the Olido Cultural Center in Sao Paulo – Brazil, a dance duo, together with the choreographer and dancer Marco Ignacio Orellana, together they address an intimately interior and subjective language, invoking the otherness that lives in all of us, a language that begins and ends in the body. They actively collaborate as a performer in the performing arts company directed by Luz Arcas “La Pharmaco” and with Miquel Barcelona as creative interpreter.

They were named a finalist for best male performer in the 2022 version of the Max Awards in Spain and is an active member of the Performing Community platform as founding artist (Santiago-Chile).