76. Diana Lozano

​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 cultist@miaminewtimes.com 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.

The Creatives so far: