Right now I`m coursing Theatrical Design at the Universidad de Chile. This career involves being able to create and compose all the visual aspects of not only theatrical pieces, because even though the emphasis of the curriculum is set in theater, teachers form you to be able to take care of the visual aspects of any kind of show. These aspects are mainly the lightning, costume and scenography areas.

Among the subjects I have had to study, almost half of theme have been theoretical, such as History of Universal Theater, History of the Theatrical Design of the XX`th Century or Theory of the Representation. The other half are subjects related to the technical aspects of our discipline, such as Graphic Tools and Technologies. The theoretical subjects are intended to give us the foundations to create an all-embracing design applying the knowledge we have been learning with the technical subjects, all these converging in the main subject of the curriculum, which is called Workshop.

Our Faculty is Arts, but it`s divided in Departments, so we study in the Theater Department with the acting students only, in a old beautiful building located in the center of Santiago. By now, that I`m coursing the third year of the career, the Department feels like home. The classrooms and technological equipments are humble, but they are improving. If I could change something, I would add more open areas to the building, because the space gets to small for the disciplines requests, and I would improve the Lightning Lab. It would also be lovely to add some green areas too!, I think that would help the relaxation and health of the students.

The teaching methods vary form teacher to teacher, every one has their own perspective of the discipline, but in general they are very passionate and they invite you to give your 200% in order to make designs that rock the audiences. 

And advice: open your mind to be creative and exercise the collective work. 

Pino Wacho

Two summers ago I went with 3 firends of mine to visit a very dear friend that lives in Pinowacho. Pinowacho is a tiny rural town nearby Licanray , close to the lake Calafquen, under a volcano that it`s called Villarrica. It`s a very beautiful place that inspires peace, because there is so much to contemplate.  We went there in one of my friends car. The part that I enjoyd the most was the expedition we made to the native forest, because  I felt like if  it was in a natural sanctuary. Another thing that I loved to do was to cook with muy friends, some times in the bonfire, sometimes only in the pot. I actually find cooking a very relaxing task, thats why I like it so much! And of course because of the delicious results of it! Another activity we made was to go swimming in the lake. This felt marvelous, because the water was very peacefull, so en it allouds our bodies to relax. 

We stayed there in tents and we made bonfires every night in order to warm up because though in the day it was sunny and hot, in the night the temperature decreases a lot, but it was a very good excuse to play music arround the fire.

"My mistakes are my life"

                                              -Samuel Beckett.-

It is very common that people wants to have a perfect life, without making mistakes. I think that is because when we make a bad decision or something doesn`t work the way we had planned it, it often causes pain. For instance, if a young person doesn`t choose his career well and he stars going to the University and after a while he regreats and retires, it is probably that the family of the person reproach him. Though it is understandable from point of view of the economic costs of that bad decision, it is shame that it looks like people doesn`t have the opportunity to get a little bit lost in the road of life, just in order to find there selves.

I think that when we realize that we have made a mistake we are in front of an opportunity to learn about our selves. If we become conscious of the causes of the mistake and if we are very honest with our selves about our feelings in regard of the bad action or decision, we can accept what has happend and integrate it in order to rectify the mistake and make much better choises the next time.

Nevertheless, I`m not saying you should make mistakes on purpose!. I`m refering to the inocent mistakes that people often make without bad intentions, although I think this learning process may apply to bigger mistakes if their is enough collective coscience.

My dreamed job

I`d like to have a job in which I can do a lot of research about staging with a consolidated team of fellows. I imagine having the resources to create plays based on research in specific places and its culture around the world. I would like it to be here in Chile at first, because it is my home country and the one that I know the most (I`m emotionally involved!) , and also because I think it has a lot of interesting aspects to venture.

Anyway, my idea of the dreamed job involves a work center with the spaces and the tools to create theatrical pieces with performers of different disciplines and cultures, even with people that has never been involved with theatre. So, one part of the work with be indoor in the work center, where we would prepare the premises for the research and build all that would be necessary for the final staging of the research, and the other part of the work would be outdoor (this part really excites me, because I`m a big fan of travelling!), presenting the plays in tours in different countries and continents, and collecting imaginary for the next plays.

I would really like this job to become real, because I think it can contribute to bring theater closer to the people, and that would be beautiful! There is a reason why theatre is a practice that has existed and survived since ancient times. I think it`s because it is a ritual that connects human souls :).

My latest beautiful dream

I will never forget the beautiful dream that I had a couple of weeks ago. It began with some dear friends and me walking in a beach at the sunrise. The landscape was amazing, without human intervention,  we where surrounded by nature, next to the immense Pacific Ocean and the cliffs of the central littoral full of vegetation.  We where walking serenely and with rhythm, like a tribe or a flock of birds, each one of us with our space but all ensambled. We where very quiet so we could hear the Ocean, the wind blowing, the birds doing there things in the trees and every thing that was surrounding us. It was like if we didn`t have to talk to communicate! We had like collective telepathy.

At some point of the walk, all the women of the group created a female flock and entered into a garden that suddenly appeared. It was full of fragrant and colorful flowers and peacocks, and I bend to collect some of the feathers of the peacocks that were lying in the ground. They were incredibly big and had a metallic shimmer that made me think that I had found a magic object, and at the end of the dream I was like hypnotized.

The truth is that I`d like to visit all places in the earth! Really, one of my dreams is to travell around every continent in every means of transportation that exists, including the ones that go by the sea. It`s one of my beautiful dreams because I think that there`s a richness in the diversity of the cultures that speaks of the genuinely human and the nature it self. Anyway. I`ll choose a country to begin.

Cuba! I`m really interested in visiting Cuba because of it`s music, that I`ve had the fortune to get to know and start learning here in Chile. I would visit La Habana and go to the alleys where musicians play rumba and other afrocuban music expresions, and try to make friends that open the path of those ritual manifestations for me. I would also go dancing salsa and to the beach of course! To enjoy the cuban flavour and swing. So I`d definitely pack appropiate clothing for the weather, a recording machine to collect musicalitys and one of my marionetts, to make a cultural exchange.

"Summer time, the living is easy".

Summer is something that I miss all year. The sunny afternoons that we spend with my family and friends by the ocean in Valparaìso or San Antonio and the freedom of not having to comply a schedule are priceless. Is just like Ella Fitzgerald sings, life is easy on summer time, we walk lightweight, the sun bathes our skin and, if we are on holidays, we have time to prepare delicious juices with the colorful fruits of the season. In summer holidays time acquires a different quality, especially if you get out of the metropolitan cities.
It`s fundamental for me to get out of the Santiago on summer to feel that I`m on holidays and be able to rest. Although I often have work in summer, if its doing what I love (doing theatre and music with companies) in parks or similar, in a new beautiful different place that involved travelling, I`m happy.