Dance Company pays tribute to Osmara de León

In this month of April the Festival of Dance "Osmara de León" is celebrated with different events, with the participation of several artistic institutions of the city, among them the Company of Dance of the University of Azuay (UDANZA).

The festival, which has reached its fourth edition, commemorates the April 29, International Day of Dance, and provides an important recognition to the career of Osmara, who due to his contribution to art and culture was consecrated as one of the figures illustrious of the city, although not without controversy.  

The dancer had a mentality that was not in line with the times and challenged the conservative behavior of the Cuenca society. Even, it was censored many times by the Catholic Church, for its liberal dress and its movements when dancing.

"We know that Cuenca was very conservative and to come with dance techniques that involved getting your legs up was little accepted," says Angélica Galarza, head of the Dance Company of the UDA together with Carmen Vázquez.

This year, the festival has an important contribution of former students of Osmara de León. Galarza says that Osmara's influence was very important to her in her professional development.

"I like to give classes the same way she gave them, because the lady was very passionate and that was something that was transmitted the moment she choreographed."

For this event Galarza designed the costumes of his choreography. The dress of the program makes reference to the identity of the city, because it is inspired by the texture that the clothes adopt when it is submerged to be washed, by Cuenca women in the Tomebamba River, name of the work.

Galarza also worked on the development of accessories such as hats and handkerchiefs that allude to traditional garments of Azuay ethnic groups.

The work Tomebamba is structured in three parts. The first was named as Hanging House, inspired by the area of ​​the ravine. The following fragment of the dance uses in a very notorious way hats made of straw shawls from Cuenca. The third choreography has a fusion of many elements because they are actions of the daily life of indigenous people of our towns.

Galarza mentioned that the work Tomebamba was created exclusively for the University of Azuay, the first version in 2005, expanded in 2009, retaken in 2019.