I’m Mayte Vaos — performing artist, choreographer, researcher, and educator. My journey as a creator begins and ends with the body. It’s my compass, my language, my way of being in the world.

My work flows between movement and stillness, between raw emotion and precise intention. While Butoh dance is at the heart of my practice, I also draw from my studies in psychology, criminology, and research methodology — and I’m especially passionate about neurocreativity and positive psychology. These fields give me tools to better understand human and physical behavior, and they constantly feed my imagination as an artist.

I often create solo works where dream-like movement blends with mythology, history, and memory. My body becomes many things: an object, a living sculpture, a trace of a forgotten childhood, or an imagined creature from the future. I love working with other disciplines too — sound, music, video, AI, and visual arts are part of my creative language.

Collaboration is vital for me. I thrive in interdisciplinary environments, improvising in unknown spaces and with new people. I find site-specific work especially magical — it allows me to leave a new imprint in a place, to awaken a memory shaped by and for the people who inhabit it.

I see my artistic practice as a kind of playful research — like tracing patterns in a river with your fingers, and discovering how subtle gestures can reshape a whole current. This is where meaning, beauty, and transformation emerge.

Background

I was born in Córdoba, Spain, in 1965. My artistic journey started in Madrid, where I trained in modern and contemporary dance and physical theater (inspired by the Grotowski laboratory tradition). I performed for several years with the experimental DADA group before co-founding The Invisible Theater of the Form, one of the first dance-theater companies in Madrid. Our piece Lesdra won the special prize at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the audience award at the Madrid International Dance Festival in 1993.

Driven by a deep desire to understand the roots of Butoh, I traveled to Japan in 1994. That year profoundly shaped my practice and perspective. Upon returning to Spain, I began teaching Butoh, becoming one of the early pioneers to introduce this form in the country.

From 1997 to 2004, I lived and worked in London, performing and collaborating internationally with artists like Ko Murobushi and Katsura Kan.Since then, I’ve continued creating and performing solo and collaborative works while residing in Spain, Berlin, and Sweden (where I’m currently based).

Some of my solo pieces include:

• Narcissus (2005–2006) – performed in Seville’s International Performing Arts Festival and Bangkok Butoh International

• Escapa(ra)te (2007) – commissioned by Andalucía’s Huellas Site-Specific Festival

• Medusa Project (2008–2009) – a performative trilogy shown in Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, and Córdoba

• The Last Dance or the Return to Paradise (2008) – a bio-installation for galleries and art museums.

I’m a proud member of Sardine Sauvage, a Swedish-based international performing arts collective. With them, and other collaborators, I’ve explored experimental formats combining movement, sound, visual art, film, and text. I’ve performed in theaters, galleries, churches, rooftops, and public plazas, with works like:

• Contemplation (2009-10) – a site-specific performance in the streets and a church in Malmö

• UtFall (2011) – Sardine Sauvage’s site-specific piece for the Malmö Festival, performed on a rooftop

• Invisible Spaces (2012–2018) – an evolving work presented in theaters and open spaces across Europe and Asia.

• Performative Interventions (2019) – a hybrid conference-workshop-performance at the University of Córdoba and several locations around the city.

• Sound and Movement Interaction (2021) – a research-based performance with violinist Maria Rodrick, commissioned by ScenFest Malmö

• The Healing Machine (2022-25) a process based co-creation, interdisciplinary project collaboration with aerial artist Claudine Ulrich.

Alongside my artistic work, I’ve facilitated countless workshops, laboratories, and international projects at the intersection of art, education, and well-being — including:

• Between Western and Eastern Performative Art (2007–2009) with Katsura Kan

• Creativity, Well-being, and Butoh Dance with psychologist Nines Martín (2019)

I hold master’s degrees in psychology, criminology, and psychotherapy, with applied research in neuroscience of creativity, mindfulness, and well-being.
Through my project, the Institute for Creativity and Human Performance, I offer coaching, training, and mentoring for performing artists, blending psychological insight with embodied creative practice.