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OLGA BARRIOS

Choreographer and dancer- Artistic director Vanguardia Dance- Colaborator of multidisciplinary projects

ABOUT

Olga is a multi-award winner artist, she has collaborated with theater, musical and dance companies as well in multidisciplinary projects in Canada, USA and Colombia. She holds an MFA in dance at York University of Toronto. Olga is original from Bogotá- Colombia and currently working with exchange projects between Colombia and Canada.

“I consider the arts a basic link in the process of building community and society.   As a choreographer and dancer that lives in a contemporary world I explore my personal reality as a woman whose life is affected by cultural heritage but also by global information, technology and all the movement in time, space. and energy.

The dialogue and contrast between movement, sound, music, gesture, voice and context are  important elements in the development of my creations. I am interested in multidisciplinary works and I pursue the collaboration with artists from different cultural backgrounds that work with performing and visual arts.”

Olga 

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REPERTOIRE

Portafolio of works

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A FLOR DE PELO- Hairy stories

From bizarre tangled dreams, to hairstyle escape routes, to dispossession, censorship and hair desires.

CONVERSATION #1

A dialogue of women throught the Americas.  

A collaboration between Vanguardia Dance and Aanmitaagzi.

Directeb by Olga Barrios

HYBRID WOMEN

A Vanguardia Dance production, it is a site-specific ritual. Premiered in 2020 at the Niff Fest. Presented at Impact theater fest 2023, Vanguardia Dance Fest 2021, Festa Bogotá 2022.

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MESTIZA

Dance instalation premiered at Museo del Oro Tairona in Santa Marta, Colombia. 2019

CABARET CARNAVAL

A hydrid dance work premiered at Quinta de San Pedro Santa Marta, Colombia 2018-19

THE ECHOE OF A HAIR

Premiered as short piece in 2016, Toronto
and as full length work in 2018, Colombia

More info
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GENOVEVA

Inspirted in the book "Tejedora de Coronas".   2017

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PETUNIA

A rhythmic and rebel "comun" flower. Powerful solo by Olga.

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BLUE TRAWL

A contemporary dance work inspired by the Colombian Caribbean.
Creation Research Grant in Dance, Colombian Ministry of Culture 2014. Premiered in Santa Marta, Colombia.

More info
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THE CALL OF THE SHELLS

Site Specific at the comunity of Pozos colorados.  2014

A dance work for stage in collaboration with Oscar Leone 2006.

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BLOOD- SERIES

A compilation of three works:  Behind Window (solo work),  Moving Earth (dance installation), and the Absent ones (work for 6 women). Created for the MFA at York University, 2010.

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REMEMBERING THE FAREWELLS

A dance theatre solo work.
Honor mention, Colombian Ministry of Culture Awards 2004.

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CALENDAR

  • Wind in the leaves collective and allies- At Citadel Toronto
    Wind in the leaves collective and allies- At Citadel Toronto
    Thu, Jan 09
    Toronto
    Jan 09, 2025, 11:50 a.m.
    Toronto, citadel toronto
    Jan 09, 2025, 11:50 a.m.
    Toronto, citadel toronto
    Premier of "Femine in tea" and remount of "Lonely Woman". Choreography by Olga Barrios. With artists Monica Gontovnik, Norma Araiza, Victoria Mata, Irma Villafuerte, Aria Evans, Kelly Jenesusse.
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  • Mestiza
    Mestiza
    Sat, Feb 17
    Santa Marta
    Feb 17, 2024, 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
    Santa Marta, Carrera 2 Parque Simón Bolívar, Comuna 2, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
    Feb 17, 2024, 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
    Santa Marta, Carrera 2 Parque Simón Bolívar, Comuna 2, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
    Site Specific performance at Museo Tairona
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  • A Flor de Pelo
    A Flor de Pelo
    Sat, Jan 27
    Minca
    Jan 27, 2024, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
    Minca, Minca, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
    Jan 27, 2024, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
    Minca, Minca, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
    Teatro Cenit, Minca Santa Marta, Colombia
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  • FESTA Bogotá- Feminin in tea
    FESTA Bogotá- Feminin in tea
    Wed, Apr 08
    Sala Otto de Greiff
    Apr 08, 2020, 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
    Sala Otto de Greiff, Cl. 39 Bis #14-57, Bogotá, Colombia
    Apr 08, 2020, 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
    Sala Otto de Greiff, Cl. 39 Bis #14-57, Bogotá, Colombia
    Estaremos en el Festival Alternativo de Bogotá FESTA, con la obra Feminin in Tea/ Juegos de tes. El 8 de Abril en el teatro Otto de Greiff de la filarmónica. Allá vamos!!
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  • Artistic Residency in Colombia
    Artistic Residency in Colombia
    Thu, Feb 13
    Residencia Canibal
    Feb 13, 2020, 5:00 p.m. – Mar 13, 2020, 9:00 p.m.
    Residencia Canibal, Barrio abajo, Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia
    Feb 13, 2020, 5:00 p.m. – Mar 13, 2020, 9:00 p.m.
    Residencia Canibal, Barrio abajo, Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia
    Come to Barranquilla for Carnivals, at the Canibal Residency. You can join Olga experimenting with in the work Cabaret Carnaval, or you can just explore any aspect of the Carnivals. Call open to artists of diverse disciplines: Visual artists, writers, photographers, sound artists, choreographers.
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  • WORKSHOP BODY AND LANDSCAPE, SANTA MARTA
    WORKSHOP BODY AND LANDSCAPE, SANTA MARTA
    Sat, Jan 11
    Pozos Colorados
    Jan 11, 2020, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
    Pozos Colorados, Pozos Colorados, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
    Jan 11, 2020, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
    Pozos Colorados, Pozos Colorados, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
    Starting 2020, with all the energy of the ocean in the beach of Pozos Colorados. With this ritual Olga opens a year of movement!!
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  • WORSKSHOP IN SANTA MARTA
    WORSKSHOP IN SANTA MARTA
    Sat, Dec 14
    Playa Pozos Colorados
    Dec 14, 2019, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
    Playa Pozos Colorados, Pozos Colorados, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
    Dec 14, 2019, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
    Playa Pozos Colorados, Pozos Colorados, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
    Last event for 2019, with a class in the beach of Pozos Colorados. With this ritual Olga closes a fantastic year full of movement!!
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Dance is poetry in movement

COLLABORATIONS

Working with diverse projects

One important aspect of Olga´s work is sharing ideas and explorations with artists and projects of diverse geograpraghies and pulsions.  Thus, here are the currently collaborations.

KEEPING THE DISTANCE

Collaboration by Olga Barrios and Edgardo Moreno.

 “Keeping the distance:  Sculpting image in a shifted body, is a series of experimental videos (6 vignettes) where the process departs from the notion of a body as the place where the vibrations of creation start, connecting with the idea of the present situation of Covid 19, where the bodies are sick and need to be isolated.  All activities are asking for the distance of the bodies. That is how many of the life activities need to be transformed in a digital space for a while, and we need to surf into it to keep contact. Meeting with friends, working, going to an event, having parties, and of course to continue our space of artistic creation as an important way of constructing society.  Many things are connected now through virtual spaces. That raises questions related with a political body and the frontiers.

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FEMININ IN TEA

A dance theatre work

A new work,  co-created by Olga Barrios and Monica Gontovnik, departing from the poems of the book Feminin in tea by Monica Gontovnik.   With guest performer Norma Araiza. Recently presented in Toronto at the Citadel.

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PATAEGANSO PLATFORM

A performative space in Barranquilla, Colombia

Co-directed and created by Olga Barrios and Tania Iglesias, since august 2017 in Barranquilla, Colombia. 
PATA E GANSO  (goose leg) is a space open to impulse artistic scenic creation and production of works.

The colective has a constant open call for artists in different levels of thier career, and it is also a space  open to present works in different moments of development.



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TRIANGLE PROJECT COLLECTIVE

Interdisciplinary work

Choreographer Olga Barrios (Colombian/Canadian), performance artist/activist Coman Poon (Chinese-Canadian/Settler-immigrant) and musician/composer Edgardo Moreno developped  The triangle project, a cross-disciplinary and polyaesthetic artistic conversation across physical and technologically mediated distance, where three artists from three different latitudes send signals to each other in order to transmute the space between.

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