MAWU
Cia Aina Lanas//Studio Pro Arte // indoor // Performance

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MAWU starts in 2018 by a group of women, -all of them dancers- lead by Aina Lanas, iniciating with the idea of femininity as a creative force, through the amalgam of universal concepts related with the implication of women and mother earth and the benefitial aspects that this relationship lets out . They use goddess Mawu as a source of inspiration, that in Fon culture (West Africa) is the feminine part of creation, and among its qualities they find harmony and generosity. As it was known in the matriarchy, the power of this goddess is not conceived as a threat to individuality but as an innate understanding of the laws of nature. It is the feminine source of the universe and symbolizes fertility, abundance and creative imagination. The entire process of investigation and creation culminates in a chant to femininity, highlighting the sense of empowerment of women, as well as the sense of gender solidarity, cooperation, sorority and tolerance of the different manifestations of femininity. Under the goddess's gaze, synchronised with her voice, the bodies of the six"daughters of Mawu" move, sensual and suggestive, through ancestral forces, of rituals that speak to us about the night, the moon and the water and their connection with the earth. It is the combination of light and darkness, the force of creation and life. Their bodies both come together and apart, comfort each other and support each other. Their differences and similarities dance in unison with the heartbeat they share

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Cia Aina Lanas - About

CIA AINA LANAS, directed and leaded by the Catalan dancer, choreographer and photographer Aina Lanas, counts with the following members: Anna Sagrera, dancer, choreographer and distribution/production agent. Irene Baeza, dancer, studying ecofeminism. Paloma Ramos, dancer and instructor of the LGTBI community styles. Júlia Sanz, dancer and anthropologist. Miriam Salvador, dancer and psychologist specialized in sexology. Kenya Sauer, dancer and choreographer, studying conscious nutrition. Sonia Prado, dancer and journalist. Cia Aina Lanas starts in 2017, with the first co-production of HOP Festival for urban performing arts. The dancer and choreographer is invited to create her first solo, Aye-Nah (voice of woman), which later will be presented at Mercat de les Flors, sharing the stage with other foreign companies. The need to define a brand as a creator culminates in this union between the choreographer and HOP distribution/production: Aina Lanas Company (Cia Aina Lanas). After more than one year touring the piece Aye-Nah, the choreographer decides to select another 6 dancers and participate in the dance choreographic contest 'The Best On' 2017, where they won 'Premi La Llotja' with the first 6-minute work in progress of MAWU. With this prix, Aina will use the support of Teatre La Llotja of Lleida to create her first long-format work that will explore the topics that concerns the choreographer: feminism, gender, identity and tradition. During the creative process of MAWU, which lasts approximately 8 months, the company is supported by Generalitat de Catalunya, Fabra i Coats, SAT! Teatre i l'Estruch Fàbrica de Creació and completes two successful crowdfunding projects in VERKAMI and Kickstarter. Aina collaborates in the design of this project with the musician David Duffy and the Guinean singer Nakany Kanté. Just before the premiere in Barcelona, in order to perfect the movements coming from the African dances, the company invites the Senegalese dancer Amadou Lamin, who trains the company intensively during a week in Centre Cívic Zona Nord (Barcelona). MAWU is already touring for the last two years and the company keeps working together, teaching Cuerpo Versátil workshop and lately in 2020 in a three days experience only for women called EN-CUERPA.