Paulina DEL CARMEN
Dancer

Paulina received a grant to participate in the Camping project organized by the Centre National de la Danse.

What is your artistic background ?
I can say that dance and music have been a very important part of my life since I was born, as even though there are no professional dancers in my family, movement and rhythm have always been in my surroundings. I started ballet when I was 15 years old. At 17, I was accepted to the Boston Ballet School and was later granted a scholarship to be part of the pre-professional program at the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory in Connecticut, USA, from where I graduated as a ballerina and contemporary dancer in 2009. After that, I joined a circus company in Mexico City where I worked as an aerial dancer. In 2012 I felt drawn to the contemporary dance world again, so I joined the Mexican company Apoc Apoc, while performing with other companies on the dance scene in Mexico. In 2013, I joined Centro de Producción de Danza Contemporánea where I have been working since.   

How do you see your profession today ?
I live in a country with many social needs. I constantly have to ask myself if my profession brings any change and if it truly reflects and understands the context in which I live. I truly believe in movement as a way to give meaning, change perspectives and enrich our reality. I have been dancing and performing for a big part of my life and now I find myself searching for new meanings, new necessities, in order to keep the honesty that dance requires of one to exist.   

How do you see yourself in five years ? In 10 years ?
In five years, I see myself having a wider perspective of the dance scene in Latin America, I would really like to learn and see more from South America specially. I see myself composing, creating new pieces and working in Mexico with kids from disadvantaged areas of the country.

This interview was conducted in 2017
Photo credit: Céline Anaya Gautier