Owner of super exclusive names in the language of chemistry we could say that Renata Mézenov Sa is the clear result of an alloy. If you ask me references, without much hesitation, I will add that she is a very busy woman and I’m pretty sure that she would include herself, without delay, in the long list of those who need 25-hour days.
LMV: Tell me the story of those surnames.
RMS: “My mom was among the first group of Cubans who went to study in the former Soviet Union, in 1961. At the university where she studied, she met my dad who was a teacher. They fell in love and I was conceived in Russia although I was born in Havana. In the Russian passport I’m Renata Adelinovna Mézenova because patronymic for women does not exist there. Sa is certainly Spanish. I also have African influences, my mom is mulatta but my grandmother was black. ”
Half uncombed, a long braid gets into her right side. Her eyes do not try to persuade anyone, though their deep blue colour could perfectly do it. At the headquarters of the group “El Ciervo Encantado” Renata surprises me with her beginnings, artistically speaking.
RMS: “I started studying ballet at L and 19th Streets, I was seven. It was very intense. Although I did not get to be a ballerina, I learned all the basic techniques of ballet. Then I graduated in classical guitar at Amadeo Roldán Conservatorium. ”
She explains that studying ballet is an addiction, (perhaps like all?) uncontrollable. It starts innocently until one day you discover, even if you’re aiming to take other paths, that you need to express yourself with your whole body. Is it blame of the ballet? I sit blame of the genes?
RMS: “I sought experiences of street dance. I was in the group “Tiempo” that was directed by Tony Cortes. In the streets we danced break dance, underground, etc. I even did acrobatics; I felt a strong urge to express myself. ”
LMV: When did you begin to study theater?
RMS: “While I was studying guitar I took the admissions tests, since then I knew that that was what I wanted to do. When I passed my mom was very happy. Although she did not tell me because I suppose it seemed crazy that after eight years, me to leave everything for something that might or might not work. Then we realized that studying music complemented me as an actress in many ways. ”
LMV: Now that you talk about your mom, is the album “Para Pilar” dedicated to her?
RMS: “Yes, this album was recorded in Milan almost 22 years ago. I was not looking for anything in the music world and it just came. There, a promotion for non-Italian artists was made, in Peter Gabriel’s way. One day before the album, I called her. She soon realized that I was melancholic; her words injected me an incredible force to continue with the CD. I always remember her singing, in fact when she was in Russia she sang in a jazz quartet. ”
LMV: Officially, when did you born as an actress?
RMS: “I am born as actress by the hand of Maria Elena Ortega over 22 years ago. Almost at the beginning, Liuba Cid invites me to make several shows. It was very interesting, because I wanted to experience new things. We started doing “Medea”. I can tell you the before and after is marked from there. ”
LMV: How was your relationship with Maria Elena?
RMS: “I am sure that all those who were her students agree with me. In the class of Maria Elena I breathed a feeling I’ve never experienced again, in any other context. It was like staying in the lap of a mother, but that does not mean she was not rigorous. If you were late to rehearsals, her look was enough for you to stay turned into a stone. Of course, the ballet had given me the tools to deal with rigor. The theater I learned from her begins from emptiness and you start to put your own instruments to each character. Then when I started my journey alone it was very difficult to find the turning point. ”
An uncomfortable rain, which was forecasted puts pause to the conversation. Renata gives me two options: opening her umbrella right there or going to take shelter. In the presentation room of “El Ciervo Encantado” we resumed our dialogue.
LMV: How do you get to Italy?
Renata laughs. I do it also, almost bitterly, hoping her to answer that question, almost begging her smile having to do with some surprise on her side to my question. In the first line, I already discover the motives; her smile has to do with a memory.
RMS: “I come to Italy by love. The previous year I had met a photographer with whom I had a very nice romantic encounter, also very intense. So, the opportunity of an artistic exchange with the University of Tenerife was given and there, unexpectedly, he contacted me by telephone and agreed to get married … and that was all. Before that the tour had been extended for four months, and then four years passed before I returned to Cuba. In Milan the days weighed as drops, heavy drops. I missed all the time. As a child I had lived separated from my father because when I was five my mom came for vacations and remained definitely here. That family breakdown marked my work as an artist; it’s still there, in whatever I do. ”
LMV: How do you begin to assume that you belong somewhere else, to other friends, other places?
RMS: “When you walk away and you get separated from what you have every day, then you realize the value that little things possess; things that you live in peace stop being transcendent for you. Anyone who has emigrated knows what it means. You start to think about the issues concerning identity, the details that keep you tied to where you come from; it’s a feeling that haunts you wherever you go. Then, without trying, you reflex that longing in your work, you try to live with that pain and you can manage to do it, but it costs a lot. ”
LMV: Did you think at some point to leave Cuba?
RMS: “No, unlike others of my generation I never felt those urges to leave the country. It just happened and I think that is why it was very complicated getting adapt. I never thought not to return, although I missed, going back meant returning to something that no longer existed. The Italian context offered me other alternatives. I inserted music to my shows, I started to build myself a professional country that gave me the ability to exchange, meet people. Then I came back with “Medea”. I gave a tour of the country. I added it many things like the boats of my memories, returning from St. Petersburg to Havana; the same boats that I put in the sink at the cabin as a child. ”
LMV: What can you tell me about “Comodin Nostalgia del Arcoiris”?
RMS: “I think that for a person to feel full, all chakras must be harmonious. Mine were contracted before that play. See how nature is, the day of the premiere, April 10, 1997, Halley Comet was passing. Although I never finished the Higher Institute of Arts, that day I professionally graduated, remoteness gave me the title of life in advance. In Cuba I was protected, growing well as an actress. The character I play in this work has much to do with me, with all the energy I had put on in order to survive at all cost, even with the terrible feeling of missing your family. The story of this play resembles that of Renata, it is a character that travels alone and seeks harmony. I learned that theater is like life, it exists if you do it, if you progress. You can not be afraid to go on.
