Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez

Yes we were mimes Playfully engaging the central question of the show, portraiture/interpretation, I was trying to pass off my costume as regular clothes but in the end we merged, I was painted. I was never interested to cast a doppelgänger mime twin(s). We are united by our costumes, our chosen identity. Huge thanks to my longtime performance collaborators, Ellpetha Tsivicos and Camilo Quiroz-Vasquez who brought great joy to my meta language play. The are co-founders of the multidisciplinary arts incubator One Whale’s Tale. Back in 2017, after long illness, a couple days before an opening my social anxiety was so bad, I thought I would have a panic attack talking to everyone. I saw a Jamaican drum band in the subway and hired them to play the opening, and whenever I felt like it was all too much, I would stand close to them where it was too loud to hear what people were saying. Initially, I thought having a twin mime at a show with a loose mimesis theme would also act as an unnerving social shield. BUT this was actually very fun and loving for everyone involved. And helped me finally understand what was going on with me all those years ago. Thank you to @taratarafox and @sgglossolalia for these images.

Everybody who is anybody will be at the #BrooklynBiennale - 1/31 - MAY THE GREATEST ARTIST WIN!

Reflecting on these past few months, and I am reminded how hard it is hard to remember to take care of ourselves. Where do we find the time? The money? The more we work and grow, the more we have to remember to check-in on ourselves and the people around us. Spent a day with the crew of ‘I Wish I Knew How’ @citywellbrooklyn reflecting on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’d like to be. ‘I Wish I Knew How’ is a creative arts healing program for formerly incarcerated people that is guided by the needs of the group. Sometimes this means long conversations, writing workshops, scene study, seeing a play, being in a play, mutual aid, working out life issues and sometimes on a nice day, it means slowing down and sitting in a sauna and hot tub (because they fucking deserve self care). Large organizations are cutting back on funding for re-entry programs, but we are committed to keep this work going. We will be raising funds through the end of this year and next to make this happen because we believe in each of these individuals! They inspire us and remind us that pain is universal, healing is possible, and community is supremely necessary. Love you guys!!!!!! Thank you @citywellbrooklyn for your kindness and generosity!!!

Enjoy this THROWBACK to the “Private Party” glory days as we invite you to join us for a (not at all) Private Mixer! TODAY - Thursday 11/6 at the iconic Sevilla in the West Village (62 Charles St). 6pm til ……! It’s a party.. it’s a mixer.. it’s a performance.. it’s a dialogue.. it’s fight.. it’s a fundraiser- it’s whatever you want it to be, baby! Come celebrate the end of an incredible season: QUINCE at Sugar, Sugar!, Cumbia Fest, the launch of the Cyprus foundation, and chat with us about what we’re dreaming up next! And maybe give us some money so we can make those dreams a reality!! There will be a roaming magician, a moody tarot reader, aquatic wildlife 👀🦈🦑, and hopefully lots and lots of martinis. We miss all the antics of this show, and all your faces. Come say hi and celebrate this beautiful city full of beautiful people ! 6pm until whenever we leave..

That’s a wrap on Cumbia Fest 2025!!! Iit might’ve been the most fun year yet with three phenomenal events 👀. A huge THANK YOU to all of our wonderful musicians, artists, vendors, and everyone who came out to dance, eat, sew, learn a new instrument or just hang and celebrate Cumbia and community with us! Here are some fantastic snaps by @taratarafox from our main event at The Good Life Garden (the coolest community garden in BK). More pics to come, and more Cu-cu-cu-cumbiaaa coming soon! 🪘 This Festival is made possible by: The City Parks Foundation (@cpfnyc @partnershipsforparks )and Partnerships for Parks through the NYC Green Fund & The Howard Gilman Foundation, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (@bkartscouncil ), and is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council

We’re back!!! You missed us, we know. We have three amazing events for you this month: Saturday, September 27th: 4pm - 10pm ⚡️🪘⚡️ Our favorite garden 🌴 the Good Life Garden (50 Goodwin Place, BK) is hosting us once again for a day of music, crafts, food + drinks. Featuring musical drum and dance initiative @rueda_de_oro , Colombian folk group @maracabruja and Brooklyn’s own youth Cumbia ensemble @loslilkumbia led by @manifiesto_music @maydayspace alongside some grooves from DJ @monarca.sonido YOU WILL DANCE DANCE DANCE ! October 1st: 6pm - 9pm Come out to the Good Life Garden and connect with other musicians, music lovers and artists. Join us for drinks, bites, and just some casual chats about music and the sharing of culture and community. The night will end with a Púyalo-JAM: a jam style workshop, friendly to all levels of musical experience (including none) by the one and only @somospuyaloahi who will end the evening with some Cumbia ! Monday, September 22nd: 6pm - 9pm A very special traditional falda (skirt) making workshop led by maestra and magical human @karlaflorezsd 🌸✨ $25 includes materials 🧶💃 - only 6 spots for this, so DM now and get the details and secure your spot! You’ll leave with your very own skirt, which you can wear to all the events, or just whenever you want! This Festival is made possible by: The City Parks Foundation (@cpfnyc )and Partnerships for Parks through the NYC Green Fund & The Howard Gilman Foundation, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (@bkartscouncil ), and is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council  And we love them for it!

QUINCE. June 2025. @dominopark Wow. Thank you to everyone who came, celebrated, feasted, partied, danced, laughed and cried along with us as we brought this latest iteration of QUINCE to life against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. This show was a DREAM and a testament to the talented and lovely humans who we were so lucky to have shared space with!! We are so so proud of every artist, actor, musician, creative, and the behind the scenes humans who made the production the success that it was. We had audience members who have been to every iteration of QUINCE over the last 5 years, new friends coming to celebrate with us for the first time, and even neighbors who just stumbled upon our show while out for a walk and ended up staying. For us, sharing such cool free art with our Brooklyn communities and creating lasting connections is seriously what it’s all about. We feel so lucky to create projects unlike anything people have seen before filled with magic and culture. We are grateful to have shared this show in Sugar, Sugar!, a brand new, free, outdoor performance series with a phenomenal lineup of artists and projects, all co-curated + creative produced by Ellpetha!! Written and Co-created by @camiloooo Directed and Co-created by @ellpetha Scenic Design: @tanya_orellana Lighting Design: @metztliee @m_dasilva737 Technical Production: @devlins.nyc Costume Design: @scarletinni Stage Management: @tessaramirezkeough @alyhhernandez as Cindy @yadiradlr915 as Maria @j.a._perezz as Salomon @salomeegas as Jaguar + Grandma Carmen @saigelarmer as Katie @mictlanyolotl as Quetzi @camiloooo as Father Joaquin @ellpetha as Selena Impersonator @marilyncastillomusic - Vocalist @manifiesto_music - Guitar + Musical Director @pochocienofficial - Percussion @jsmonsalvec - Bass Sugar, Sugar! was presented by @dominopark and Co-Curated and Co-Creative Produced by @publicassembly.nyc + @ellpetha 📸 @sidewalkkilla : 1-2, 5, 9-10, 12-14, 20 @wlodarczyk : 6-8, 11, 16-18 @erin_pearlman : 3, 15 @mariofc55 : 4, 19 Stay tuned for what’s next 👀

QUINCE is BACK baby! And part of an incredibly exciting, brand new performance series coming to @dominopark this June Co-curated & Creative Produced by our very own @ellpetha (WOW) with @publicassembly.nyc @annabelthompson ! Domino Park presents the inaugural edition of Sugar, Sugar! - a free outdoor performing arts series. Taking place over four weeks from June 4 through June 28, 2025, the series will showcase experimental performances spanning theater, dance, music and puppetry. Visit dominopark.com/sugarsugar to read about all the fantastic artists and to reserve tickets now!! General Admission tickets are FREE for all events. For QUINCE, we also have Very LIMITED Table Seating at round Quinceañera tables with snacks and party favors that put you right in the action for $10 (they will be gone fast). #quince #free #nyc #dominopark #sugarsugar #performance

We have VERY exciting news dropping soon but in the meantimeee please enjoy this 👀 TOTALLY RANDOM 👀 throwback to our magical production of QUINCE @bushwickstarr in 2022. QUINCE is an immersive comedy that follows a 15 year-old Chicana confronting her queer identity, family and religion on the eve of her quinceañera – a rite-of-passage ushering a girl’s transition into womanhood, emphasizing the importance of family and community. The vibrant, immersive experience features music, dance, food, and art inspired by Latin American rituals, mythology and magic! A workshop of QUINCE premiered at The People’s Garden in August of 2020 as part of the TEAM’s Petri Projects. It was the first live theater to happen in New York during the pandemic, and revolutionized the way we explored the arts within Covid. The following year it had a sold out 4 week run as part of The Bushwick’s Starr 2021-2022 season. Written and Co-created by Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez Directed and Co-created by Ellpetha Tsivicos ​ Presented by The Bushwick Starr + One Whale’s Tale Scenic Design: Tanya Orellana Lighting Design: Mextly Couzin Costume Design: Scarlet Moreno Sara Gutierrez as Cindy Brenda Flores as Maria José Pérez as Salomon Talisa Velázquez as Jaguar + Grandma Carmen Saige Larmer as Katie Quetziquetl Angulo Aleman as Quetzi Anabel Lugones De León as the tricky Coyote Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez as Father Joaquin Ellpetha Tsivicos as Selena Impersonator Marilyn Castillo: Vocalist Andrés Fonseca: Percussion Juan Ospina: Bass Sebastian Angel: Guitar #summer2025

The piano got us drunk @diving_duck_exarchia #duet

It’s been one year since we did Private Party, a genre bending, irreverent, absurdist cocktail performance. Magicians, inflatable sea creatures, tattoo stations (🍌🐳), CAKES, food for all, JELLO SHOTS, clowns for no reason, pre rolls, two bars, the most motley and amazing crew of artists (performers? not all of them! just people!) In this bureaucratic, performative and dystopian world we are living in, we chose to blur the lines between reality, political satire, and Dionysian Dada-ism (surprise Little Caesar delivery during show). No one knew what was scripted, and what was not, when it would end, when it would begin, or why we were all gathered there together, but you know what? We laughed! And isn’t that just life? Fight the power, fuck the man, party, and make art! Private Party will be back soon, will YOU be in it next time? (ask us, maybe you will be?) . 🍌 . Premiered at @publictheaterny in Jan 2024, which led to these encore performances at @weareherebk where we got to expand, expand, expand!

Ellpetha & Camilo talk to me about post show self care. Full interview about living as artists on YouTube at “The Free Art School”. #thefreeartschool #freeartschool #onewhalestale #ellpethatsivicos #camiloquirozvasquez