María Muñoz (Mal Pelo)

María Muñoz (Valencia, 1963), whose parents born in Chera (Guadalajara) and Panticosa (Aragonese Pyrenees), grew up in Valencia, where she studied music and practiced competitive athletics. There he also started dancing and later traveled to Amsterdam and Barcelona to expand his training. Since 1989, together with Pep Ramis, with the stage creation company Mal Pelo he has developed his own artistic language through movement and the creation of dramaturgies that include text, original soundtracks, live music, the construction of scenographic spaces, light and video among other scenic tools.

Artistic and professional trajectory of María Muñoz

María Muñoz had her first professional experience in 1982 with the show Era, by the Japanese company Shusaku & Dormu Dance Theater, resident in Holland. In 1985, the formation of the group La Dux, alongside Mariantònia Oliver, marks the beginning of his own career in scenic creation. In 1988, María Muñoz collaborated with Pep Ramis in the creation of the solo Cuarto trastero and in 1989 they formed the group Mal Pelo, where both have since shared the creation and direction. Within the group she develops a facet of researcher and pedagogue of the movement. He also edits and stimulates the creation of texts for the scene. She is currently a choreographer, dancer and co-director of the creation center L’animal a l’esquena in Celrà, Girona.

María Muñoz and Pep Ramis have found in the scene and the creation of shows, a place to deposit the need to experience, ask and share the issues that are vital in their career. Like Mal Pelo, they have gone through Temporada Alta with shows like Double Infinite. The Bluebird Call (2023), Highlands (2021), Inventions (2020) or On Goldberg Variations / Variations (2019).

Mal Pelo: Reference company in contemporary dance

Shared creation is one of the differentiating and characteristic elements of the group. Throughout its career, Mal Pelo has been able to collaborate with different artists and projects such as John Berger, Erri de Luca, Lisa Nelson, Àngels Margarit, Steve Noble, Nuria Font, Steve Paxton, Eduard Fernández, Andrés Corchero, Toni Serra , Lilo Baur, Cesc Gelabert, Faustin Linyekula, Raffaella Giordano, Baro D’Evel, Leonor Leal, Marta Izquierdo among many others.

The company’s career has received several recognitions, including the National Culture Award of Catalonia, the City of Barcelona Award and the National Culture Award for its career both in the field of choreographic creation and in opening of new paths in contemporary dance. In 2022, Mal Pelo received the Gold Medal of the Academy of Performing Arts and the City of Palma 2022 Margaluz Performing Arts Award.