The dance I am seeking uncovers historical wounds. It resists the fallacy of truth and explores the dictates imposed by neoliberalism which, as per the worst dictatorships, has the quality of presenting itself as the only possible system, of brushing away the past and rejecting any future which does not resemble and replicate it. Neoliberalism is the perfect fiction, an impeccable application of the Aristotelian concept of verisimilitude. The dance I am seeking uncovers historical wounds and actively resists fiction and its verisimilitude.

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The dance I am seeking rejects the notion of the body as housing the individual, the anecdotal, the romantic. It re-vindicates its capacity to embody a collective voice and messages that pertain to us as a species. The collective body overrides the current body and celebrates what all of them have lived, even if they are no longer with us.

The dance I am seeking belongs to folklore: it is the wildest and most profound of bodies. Independent of the fashions and the dictatorship of the present, it is capable of applying a critical physicality to history. I am uninterested in folklore as a finished product, stylised, schematic. Folklore opens like a wound in our bodies whenever we dance. It’s dynamic, it’s alive. It transforms into ourselves, it is us. 

I am not seeking a body imbued with verisimilitude, but one that is real. A body vehemently exposed to its fleetingness, which offers itself like flowers to the silence of cemeteries.

Luz Arcas

Luz Arcas founded the company La Phármaco in 2009.

She graduated in Choreography from the María de Ávila Conservatoire in Madrid, and Stage Direction from the Spanish Royal School of Stage Arts.

Among her latest creations, Mariana stands out (XXII Seville Flamenco Biennial, in co-production with Teatros del Canal and MA scène nationale – Pays de Montbéliard, October 2022 – April 2023).

Also: Trilla, (duo with the composer Le Parody, Museo Thyssen Málaga, April 2022), Toná (Festival de Otoño de Madrid, in co-production with Teatro de la Abadía, November 2020), Una gran gran emoción politica (Teatro Valle Inclán, in co-production with the National Dramatic Center, 2018), Miserere (Teatros del Canal, 2017) and Kaspar Hauser. The Orphan of Europe (Festival de Otoño de Madrid, 2016).

In 2023 La Phármaco premieres Bekristen, Triptych of Prosperity at the Festival de Otoño de Madrid, in November, and at the Teatro Central in Seville, in December. This is the closing of the trilogy made up of La Domesticación (2019, presented at the Autumn Festival), Somos la guerra (2021, co-produced by the C.C.C. Conde Duque de Madrid), and La Buena Obra, the final chapter, premiered at the Festival, with a cast of dancers over 65 years old.

Also in 2023, Luz Arcas creates and directs the choreography of the opera Rigoletto, directed by Miguel del Arco and premiered in December at the Teatro Real in Madrid (co-produced by the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Bilbao and the Teatro de la Ópera in Israel).

La Phármaco has also premiered two theatrical pieces: Todas las santas, co-created with Egly Larreynaga and Alicia Chong from the group La Cachada from El Salvador (premiered in October 2022 at the FIT in Cádiz, with collaboration from the Teatro de la Abadía de Madrid), and Psicosis 4.48, an adaptation of the work by Sarah Kane co-produced by the Teatro Español in Madrid, premiered there in June 2023.

The company explores non-theatrical spaces such as Y qué más da, todo es gracia (Picasso Museum of Málaga, Picasso-Calder exhibition, 2019), Habitación con mi alma fuera (Picasso Museum of Málaga, Bruce Nauman exhibition, 2019), La errancia (Centro of Contemporary Culture Conde Duque, Garden State, 2018), Chacona (Center Pompidou in Malaga, 2015) or Embodying what was hidden (King Juan Carlos Center in New York, 2015).

 Luz Arcas has choreographed for the El Graner creation center (within the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa, in 2023), Pedro G. Romero (2022, 2023), IPCNA (Lima, Peru, 2021, together with the choreographer Luz Gutiérrez), for the National Company of El Salvador (Dolorosa, 2019 and La Anunciación, 2021) and for the Víctor Ullate Ballet (Los hijos más bellos, 2018). It also carries out other types of artistic and pedagogical projects such as World and Language (Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, 2016) or Tú que tienes la luz (National School of Drama of New Delhi, 2016). Currently, among other projects, she is preparing Bordo poniente, a dance piece co-produced by the University of Guadalajara (Mexico) and a new main show for 2025. The company’s repertoire has toured different countries, accompanied by educational projects in Europe, Africa, America and Asia.

Luz Arcas has been awarded the II Godot Prize 2023 for best dance work for Mariana. She was a finalist for Best Female Dance Performer at the Talía Awards in 2023 and at the Max Awards in 2017 and 2022. She has also won the The Ojo Crítico de Danza in 2015, the award for best female dance performer at the Lorca Awards in 2015 and the Injuve and Málaga Crea awards in 2009.