Karina Guzman (México)

Contemporary dancer, aerial artist and director of the Calembur circus school and company in Mexico City.

She studied contemporary dance at the Nellie and Gloria Campobello School of INBA, specialising in contemporary dance. She has performed with choreographers such as Oscar Ruvalcaba, Vicente Silva, Miguel A. Palmeros, Valentina Castro, among others.

At the age of 19, she joined the professional Cia. Tiempo de Bailar and began teaching barre on the floor to groups of children, continuing her teaching career with contemporary dance and stretching classes.

She began her studies in circus arts, in particular aerial props, at the Rogelio Rivel circus school in Barcelona, continuing her training in fabric, hoop, cradle and trapeze with Circo Sentido and international masters such as Karen Bernal (Mexico), Miriam Edo (Spain), Cynthia Bereneck and Kiko Caldas of Circo del Sol (Brazil), Lola Castelli and Nico Gallo (Argentina), Laura Cork (England), María Noel (Uruguay) and on two occasions with Finzi Pasca's Teatro de la Caricia. Her training has been constant in various scenic areas with artists specialised in flexibility and verticalism such as Mauricio Aguilar (Mexico), Leonardo Sivira (Venezuela) and, only flexibility, with Estrella Esparza (Mexico).

In 2011, she started a training project in the north of Mexico City, called Calembur. After three years of work, she built a training and production space with Calembur in Mexico City. In 10 years, six shows have been produced and the project has grown to such an extent that, in 2020, 130 students were participating in her courses.

In 2018, the play 'La muerte y otras historias' was produced with an artistic team of 4 members. After the premiere in Mexico, an international tour started in Europe (Paris, Brussels and Italy, with the Italian premiere at the RIADA Festival 2018).

In 2019, Karina was in Fukuoka, Japan, as a guest of the “Tiempo Iberoamericano” asociation with a series of performances. In 2020 in collaboration with MEXA Producciones, Karina performed the creation 'Soñar' together with musician Juan Amenuzcua, reaching more than 1,700 viewers in real time during the live broadcast of the show.

2021 was a year of personal growth and learning. At the same time, the school started a hybrid schedule of in-person and online courses, so Karina taught students from Japan, France, the United States and Argentina.

2022 began with more energy, projects, collaborations and research resumed, with the hope that this project will finally keep growing.

At RIADA 2022 Karina will hold workshops on hoop and aerial silks.

Presentation of workshops (textiles, hoop)

In the workshops developed by Karina and the members of Calembur, an organic and soft movement on the aerial props is sought through impulses and suspension, without neglecting static figures, which are based on a search between balance of strength and flexibility. The aerial movement must reflect the subtlety of balance-unbalance as well as develop the natural capacity of each participant's body.

Each body is able to perform dynamic sequences in different ranges of movement, depending on the freedom and confidence each person achieves. And in the workshops run by members of the Calembur Company, the aim is to encourage the discovery of the body in the air. Whether on the hoop or on silks, the aim was to bring students closer to encountering their own possibilities.

At RIADA SHOWTIME Karina will present new research on the aerial hoop.

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