Gabriela’s Art

I am interest in recovering art’s origin, why humans painted about their life in rocks, why they created the totems, songs and dances they did? They weren’t trying to do art, they were trying to leave a print of their presence, teachings, advices, for the coming generations, they weren’t trying to be “spiritual”…the point was helping, supporting and guiding own and future generations to survive. As well, I believe, their connection to nature, which was prerequisite for surviving, made them understand of the need of expressing and the value of that, for searching and finding surviving skills.

For me, dance, is the art of surviving through moving. I believe that dance is a tool for getting back to the body and the knowledge of its cells, which is the same knowledge of nature around. Dance was, in its origin, the great way for getting in connection with own body, and through own body to the nature around, to sense, perceive and realize the wisdom of life, in another words the wisdom of surviving. Yet, my work, is not about sharing any wisdom, but sharing my own ways and processes of connecting to nature, the motion, the expression of it.

I believe that dance has something very primordial to do for our contemporary world, dance is a tool to help our human race and planet to survive. I am not interest to make a dance or any other art expression that is not aware of the devastating reality of our planet, since I believe artists have an enormous responsibility and the tools to create spaces for real change towards a more sustainable life.

In now days society people live mostly unconnected from own body and nature. People live unaware of the interdependency between humans and nature and this unawareness is causing the destruction of life and the planet. That touches me enormously, touches my dancer body and transform my work as an artist and my entire life.

I conceive and experience the creation of art pieces, installations and the use of the voice in my works, as extensions of my dance, as a way for my dance to hold itself, as the external presences of nature passing through my body, as a nature rising. My work is far away from being an entertaining show, but more a manifesting presence, a ritual to be experienced. In live-performances, I invite the audience to be part of it actively.

My work is deeply rooted in my experience of nature, in what I see and sense from it. I don’t do so much plans. I go to nature with trust, that everything I need is there. I am not just taking from nature, my aim is to create a relationship, a cycle of exchange every time, a giving and receiving continues cycle.

I am deeply thankful for being a holder of the worldview of my foremothers and forefathers, their understanding of nature and its different dimensions and to my children, for being an endless source of inspiration and strength.

I practice daily in nature and my works develop organically from this practices. Sometimes a work is born in a moment and sometimes is born after several months, or even years, of practices and reflections. I have being doing this practices for very long time, but I only start to make a register of some pf them since 2017.

Gabriela Ariana. Picture by Tanja Ahola.