Dancer Sònia Gómez explores the relationship between art and mental health in CalidoscòpicaLab.

In 2022, dancer, performer, and stage director Sònia Gómez (La Sénia, 1973) initiated a project with Encarni Espallargas—diagnosed with bipolar disorder and visual impairment—to experiment with the body, voice, and presence on stage. Through this reivindicative, personal, and ironic process, Calidoscòpica emerged: a performative, musical, and dance production that staged the encounter between two women. The piece addressed concepts such as mental health, creativity, and well-being, highlighting the artistic potential of mental health service users.

Over the past three years, Calidoscòpica has been performed in various theaters across Catalonia and has given rise to a laboratory designed to share the scenic exercises used in the research, assembly, and creation process of the show. This is how CalidoscòpicaLab. Body and Mental Health, a live arts workshop aimed at groups living with mental illnesses—whether chronic or temporary—was born, with the goal of improving their lives through the body, voice, and scenic presence.

“The workshop has allowed us to discover our own bodies and their multiple possibilities, using simple tools that stimulate physical changes to improve well-being and self-perception. We have also used the voice as an energetic channel, an expressive and powerful amplifier connected to breathing and the mind,” explains Sònia Gómez.

The laboratory has been held twice in Barcelona and, since last November, has also been organized at the Lo Pati art center in Amposta, in collaboration with people supported by the Fundació Astres Terres de l’Ebre, a non-profit organization that works to improve the quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities or mental illness. The workshop, lasting ten hours per week over four months, involved around fifteen participants of various ages and backgrounds.

“We often live with our bodies disconnected from our minds and their basic and vital functions. Among people with mental illnesses, this chronic stagnation is experienced silently and with resignation, which negatively impacts their daily lives. The scenic practice we proposed has allowed them to activate their bodies and their functions, reaching a space of self-awareness aimed at discovering individual limitations and potentials,” adds Gómez.

On Saturday, January 25, at 7:00 PM, Lo Pati will host a double program: on one hand, the Calidoscòpica performance, and on the other, a community creation directed by Sònia Gómez and resulting from the work done with the workshop participants.

“This type of project helps us break the social stigma that still affects some people with mental health conditions. We want to demonstrate that art can enrich and heal us, help us go beyond prejudices, and promote inclusivity,” says Aida Boix, director of the Lo Pati art center.

The project is part of one of Lo Pati’s strategic work axes focusing on mental illness, which in recent years has fostered collaborations with institutions in the sector, such as the Fundació Pere Mata in the Terres de l’Ebre.