In honor of our People Issue, which will hit newsstands and computer screens November 25, Cultist proudly presents "100 Creatives," where we feature Miami's cultural superheroes in random order. Have suggestions for future profiles? Email [email protected] with the whos and whys.
76. Diana Lozano
Diana Lozano is a freak show, and trust us, she doesn't mind that we call her that. As founder and artistic director of Circ X, the multidisciplinary artist puts together performances that she classifies as "one part circus, two parts burlesque, a pinch of class, and a dash of trash." Sexy burlesque dancers, fantastical circus clowns, bizarre improv actors, and elaborately-costumed mimes...they all come together behind her artistic wand for events all over Miami. It's part of a mission to squeeze out more eccentricity and deviance out of a city with too many identical shot girls and not enough clowns in drag.
Lozano has a BFA in musical theater from New World, and a Masters in integrated media from California Institute of the Arts. She also furthered her studies at Dell'arte school of Physical Theater. "It's where I developed by love for buffoonery," she says. Under the guidance of teacher and mentor Octavio Campos, she began to integrate multiple disciplines from her studies to create Circ X.
The cast, made up of 20 performers trained in different fields, function as a collective, all contributing choreography and ideas. "As the ring master, I orchestrate the performance, draw the basic outline and then give [each artist] the freedom to color outside the lines," Lozano says. Currently, she is working as a teacher at New World School of the Arts in addition to performance work.
You can find out when CircX performs on facebook.
1. List five things that inspire you.
-Plexiglass enclosures
-Toilet bowls
-Mirrors
-Dissonance
-Contradictions
2. What was your last big project?
A multimedia production commissioned by the Miami Light Project, entitled "Circ X Stripped: A Grotesque Burlesque," performed at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Here and Now Festival.
3. What's your next big project?
Currently, I am in development for a reality series based on my production company and performance troupe Circ X.
4. Why do you do what you do?
For me, ultimately, it's about connection. Art is, after all, the universal language. It's in that space between the spectator and the piece that magic happens, love happens. I wish I could live there forever.
Life is not perfect, but with art, at least there is in an effort. To make you think, to disturb you, to allow you the opportunity to see things differently. Ask why. Art, true art, is not always pretty but it's pure.
5. What's something you want Miami to know about you?
I prefer stilts to stilettos and red noses to red nails. Also I believe that god is clown.
What's something you don't want Miami to know about you?
I enjoy watching countless hours of trashy and mindless reality television.
77. Ricardo Pau-Llosa
78. Agustina Woodgate
79. Tarell Alvin McCraney
80. Jennifer Kronenberg
81. Farley Aguilar
82. Colin Foord
83. Karelle Levy
84. Matt Gajewski
85. Antonia Wright
86. Charles Allen Klein
87. Christy Gast
88. Gustavo Matamoros
89. Shareen Rubiera-Sarwar
90. Kyle Trowbridge
91. Clifton Childree
92. Jessica Gross
93. Danny Brito
94. Nektar de Stagni
95. Anthony Spinello
96. Vanessa Garcia
97. Justin Long
98. Rosie Herrera
99. Rick Falcon
100. Ingrid B
