Quiero bailar como Tongolele (2018), a two-channel video installation, is the last of the works made at Barba Azul Cabaret. Since the end of 2017, we started to change the dynamics of yoga classes. I have never known how to dance Latin rhythms, so I proposed to invert the relationship between master and apprentice and continue with sessions in which Maria Guadalupe, Martha or Teresita would teach me how to dance cumbia, mambo and cha cha cha. Tongolele («Mi mamita dice que no quiere / Que yo baile como Tongolele / Que me mueva como Tongolele», says the song) was also thought of in a different way: this time, I organized a day of shooting at Barba Azul, behind closed doors, at the beginning of March 2018. We also thought of a small structure where each of the teachers would dedicate a part of the class to a dance technique and choose their favorite songs. The Barba Azul’s orquestra was put at the service of our class, performed and filmed behind closed doors, for the pleasure of working and dancing together.

As a result of this video piece Quiero bailar como Tongolele, in each place where it has been exhibited, I propose an exercise of activation of the space: dance classes led by the «ficheras» of Barba Azul. The same women who have starred in the previous series. The classes are recorded and will be part of another piece, still in process. The piece Quiero bailar como Tongolele has been exhibited at the Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico in 2018, at the Fotovision photography meetings in San Luis Potosi, September 2019, and at the Enfoque 2020 photography meetings in Santiago de Queretaro.