An emerging Argentinian choreographer, Marina Otero is remapping radical contemporary dance. These are only a few examples of how she brings a deeply personal, often autobiographical element to her art. Her recent work examines mental health, genealogy and self-reinvention. Otero channels her own life experiences into making these themes relatable and real. Otero’s oeuvre is perhaps best exemplified in her lifelong art activism, “Recordar para vivir,” or “Remember to Live.” She refers to it as “an infinite work,” where even now, she finds herself deeply involved as the subject and object of her own research.
Otero’s artistic journey is layered, and in many ways it mirrors her fraught and complicated relationship with her own past. By using video from her own archive, she’s able to let viewers connect with her past on a deeply resonant level. In particular, her show “Fuck Me” investigates the connection between her family’s history and Argentina’s military dictatorship during the 1970s and 80s. Her grandfather served as a naval intelligence officer during this turbulent time. This background provides layers of complexity to her exploration of trauma and identity.
In a radical break from mainstream choreography, Otero faced her biggest emotional obstacle. After having major spinal surgery, she was left disabled and immobile for over a year. Her experience of this organizational pivot point inspired her to originally cast five male dancers to fill the void of her absence in “Fuck Me.” Of course, these dancers on leave become military seamen, and their striptease acts are performed in the buff. Their virtuosic performance provides a stirring, visceral indictment of fragility and abuse.
Otero’s practice took a darker turn last year, when the artist experienced a mental breakdown. These firsthand experiences served as a catalyst for her new work, “Kill Me”. It had its world premiere at the Rising festival in Melbourne, and will have its international debut in France in 2024. In this piece, Otero centers the camera and our attention on four women dancers. Each dancer lays bare her personal struggles with mental illness. By disrupting their own traumatic recollections, the performers stage traumatic experiences that speak to larger social narratives about mental health.
“It seemed interesting to me, recording the darkest parts of a person,” said Otero.
Otero’s passion for investigating the breadth and complexity of human experience permeates her artistic process. She engages with the complexities of her own mental health struggles, stating, “Each work somehow confronts me with a way of self-destruction.” Her introspective method doesn’t just change her, it challenges audiences in an effort to make you face your own story, too.
Her path through the world of dance has certainly not been easy. The challenges she’s facing as an artist have only been exacerbated by the impact of the pandemic and her own personal upheavals. Reflecting on these experiences, Otero remarked, “The cliché of the midlife crisis, coupled with unstable travel and a relationship with a narcissistic man, exacerbated my longstanding dependence on men and fear of loneliness.” Over and against all of that, she is defiant in her commitment to continue asking these questions about what is real.
“Whatever happens to me, I’m going to question everything,” she asserted.
To get ready for future projects, Otero is currently training in boxing. This practice is a powerful manifestation of both her physical and emotional endurance. That demanding physical training isn’t just a means of getting her back in shape, it serves as the path to her rehabilitation. These bodies give her a potent metaphorical framework, too, letting her explore power and fragility in her craft.
Whether in the gallery or in public, Otero’s artistic practice is one of constant transformation. She expressed this sentiment when she stated, “The most important thing for me is that the pieces transform me and take me to another place, to another life experience.” Her journey to self-discovery through art has struck a chord with all those who fight their own battles of trauma and loss.
Marina Otero’s trajectory as an artist is a great example of how dance can be a vessel for storytelling and healing. Through her evocative performances and poignant narratives, she illuminates the intersections between personal history and larger societal issues, making her an influential figure in contemporary dance.