¿QUÉ PUEDE UN CUERPO? / WHAT CAN A BODY DO?
SHANTÍ VERA is a Mexican artist currently based in Berlin. He graduated with honors in Contemporary Dance from the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico, and earned a master's degree in Performing Arts & Visual Culture from the Universidad Castilla La Mancha and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Spain. Throughout his career, he has worked as a choreographer, dancer, director, teacher, body researcher, writer, and curator, presenting his creations in renowned institutions in Mexico and at festivals and venues in 22 countries across Europe and Latin America. Since 2007, he has been developing El Cuerpo Vacío, a laboratory focused on transforming thoughts into action, experimentation, and play across various fields of knowledge, with an emphasis on the body, thought, imagination, space, creation, and choreography.
His artistic work is a political commitment to the defense of the body. Since 2007, he has led the company CUATRO X CUATRO, and in 2009, he founded the 4X4 festival (now in its 14th edition). Both organizations provide spaces for experimentation, research, promotion, and exhibition of contemporary performing arts.
MELISSA HERRADA is a Mexican choreographer and dancer based in Berlin. In 2014, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in contemporary dance from the Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlan, Mexico. In 2024, she completed her master's in choreography within the Arts Program at HZT in Berlin, the inter-university center for dance at the University of the Arts (UdK). Over the course of her career, she has presented work in ten countries. Since 2016, she has been a creative collaborator with the Mexican company CUATRO X CUATRO under Shantí Vera's leadership, and a participant in the 4x4 performing arts festival in Mexico. Recently, she received the International Collaboration Grant from the British Council (2021-2023) in partnership with the CASA Festival in London. For her latest project, she collaborates with visual artist Andrea Carillo, supported by the Magnum Foundation in New York and Patronato de Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico.
CUATRO X CUATRO is a Mexican company founded in 2007 in Xalapa, Mexico. They develop interdisciplinary projects that explore the body from a Southern perspective (not geographically, but as an absent territory within dominant worldviews). They have presented their work in major cultural institutions in Mexico and 22 countries across Europe and Latin America. The company has received numerous awards and grants in Mexico, Spain, the UK, Switzerland, and Germany.