Interviews with the artists

Peru, Brazil, Chile. Three different countries, three different cultures, and one thing in common: their Latin rhythms will be merging together into a full day of celebration on Saturday the 14th.

On this day, DLA will be celebrating the bicentenary of eight Latin American countries' independence and journalist Maria Constanza Castro has interviewed Grupo del Sur, Gui Tavares from Creative Brazil and Jose Navarro to give us some insight into these artists' worlds and minds.

For that we have interviewed Grupo dels Sur, a Chilean dance group settled in London that practice rhythms from all over their country. Coming from this long and narrow nation, and also celebrating 200 years of existence, they will perform for us dances from different regions of Chile. From the north the "Huaino" and "Cachimbo, from the central zone "cueca" and "jotas" and from the south a dance related with Chiloé Island. There is an important mixture with Argentinean culture in Patagonia, so the "cueca", "chocolate" and "segrillas" go together with "chamames" and other rhythms. Although this group started dancing Easter Island or Rapa Nui rhythms.

We also interviewed Gui Tavares, professional musician original from Campinas, Brazil, that combines his profession with education and social work. Settled in London for about ten years, his work acts as a bridge between the northern and southern cultures.

Plus, Jose Navarro - Pistaco is the magic name of a Peruvian-British artist, dancer and puppeteer. A mixture of creativity and tradition, of secrets and performances. After learning the ancestral dance of the scissors in the Highlands of Los Andes, he came to London to learn from other cultures, to create and recreate, to follow a path of interpretation and  knowledge.

And the band Reverso, which was born in 2009 and is playing loud in London and has conquered an enormous audience. A crossing cultural experience between Ecuadorians and British musicians, a musical delight that makes you dance and feel alive. They definitely break the stereotypes and come across with a surprisingly new mixture of rhythms, harmonies and textures.