Javier “Jabo” Drucaroff is the mentor of “Real Self”, one of the most disruptive shows – to call it something – that could be seen lately in these parts. So much so that, now associated with Sony, it became one of the few Argentine productions with international projection, with a European tour that has just begun in Barcelona.
From its debut at the end of 2019 in a pocket of the Buenos Aires underground until its last performance at the Paramount Arena in Martínez last July, here “Real Self” managed to attract more than 50 thousand people willing to live an immersive, artistic and technological experience in complete anonymity. All equipped with a mask and a white romper, amidst immersive music, 360º mapping and a voice-over that invites them to show themselves as they are and to be more authentic than ever.
Thus, before leaving for Spain, Drucaroff spoke with NEWS about his peculiar creation, which he himself relates to some of his experiences as a globetrotter.
News:What is “Real Self”?
Javier Drucaroff: Basically, it is a sensing device. In such a sleepy society, all day on the phone, with social networks, we need to wake up and feel. “Real Self” is an invitation to feel more, for each person to connect with different emotions, to encourage themselves to feel them fully and for that to mobilize them. Many tell me that it helped them realize something that was holding them back and make it click. Or if they were hesitating to do something, that helped them create positive change. That makes me feel fulfilled.
News: How did the idea come about?
Drucaroff: It is a product of several things. Starting with watching a lot of theater since I was a child, thanks to my parents. I think that’s when I realized that I liked artistic ceremonies, when many people get excited at the same time. Besides, I am an electronic technician and I am passionate about technology. Although they are different things, I love the artistic aspects linked to self-knowledge as much as the lighting design, the projections, the surround sound. Then I enrolled in architecture, which I didn’t finish, and just at that time I met De la Guarda, who blew my mind. There I told myself: “I want to do ceremonies that mobilize emotions”; and I created “Doble Banda”, an immersive show with aerial acrobats, dancers, live musicians and the people in the middle of that performance. De la Guarda and then Fuerza Bruta marked me to want to do different experiences.
News: I read that he traveled a lot and that also had an influence.
Drucaroff: Yes, luckily, I traveled a lot since I was 18. Many times, as a backpacker, not sunbathing on the beach, but to meet people and try new things. That was my great training: reaching a place where no one knew me and encouraging myself to be more authentic. To work on things that I had never done here; to start playing the bongo with a group of kids when I had never studied percussion; to dress however I wanted, no matter what they say.
News: He also traveled for work and won several awards.
Drucaroff: Yes, doing “Doble Banda”, for example, a South African production company that was in Argentina proposed to me to do a show with social inclusion for the closing of the National Art Festival of South Africa. I was just leaving for India, with no return date, so I only sketched out the script; and once there, he asked me to finish it because they had approved the idea. So I came back, called some artists, we rehearsed for a month and left for South Africa. There we went into very deprived neighborhoods to look for new talents and they ended up rewarding us. Later, here I repeated the experience in the La Cava neighborhood of San Isidro, with the collaboration of a cultural center in the area that helped me find local artists. I also traveled a lot with 3DAR, a production company of audiovisual content – animations, more than anything – with which I went as a set designer to several virtual reality festivals. With them, we won at the Venice Biennale and at the Sundance in the United States.
News: “Real Self” exploded after the pandemic, when they arrived at the Buenos Aires Convention Center. How did that happen?
Drucaroff: “Real Self” began as a work in progress for 25 friends, in a friend’s dance room in La Fábrica. Then I did it in the Guevara Shed, for a maximum of 50 people. There, because of an influencer who came to see us, unknown people began to come. Among them, a woman who told me on the phone that the experience had fascinated her and who, without further ado, told me: “I went to see ‘Real Self’ without knowing what it was about. If you’re up for it, I’ll wait for you on that day, at that time, in that place and I’ll tell you the rest personally.” At first I was hesitant, but I left the address with my wife and went (laughs). There she told me that she was a publicist, that she had gone to “Real Self” at the suggestion of one of her employees, that she left there determined to change many things in her life and that she wanted to join the project, providing contacts. her. Her name is Barby Esses and she has been my partner ever since. Then Preludio, the theatrical arm of Polka, and Ozono, the production company of Fuerza Bruta, joined.
News: Before the interview he told me that he has been in a relationship for 11 years and that he has a three-year-old son. Didn’t that make traveling difficult for you?
Drucaroff: I didn’t travel for a long time. First, because of the pandemic, and then because of the birth of my son. It was never complicated with my partner, because he also loves to travel; and when she couldn’t, it wasn’t a problem either because she super supports me, like the rest of my family.
News: Have you never had a steady job that tied you down?
Drucaroff: No, I never could (laughs).
News: “Real Self” is promoted as a spectacle, a show and a party, isn’t there something therapeutic about it too?
Drucaroff: Yes. It is a spectacle and a show because it has a lot of technology; and a party, because you are ecstatic without having consumed anything, except emotions. The therapeutic comes from a dance technique called contact improvisation, which I learned about on a trip, and from other ceremonies that I experienced in different places.
News: As which?
Drucaroff: Ceremonies of native peoples, of wachuma, of ayahuasca, that lead to altered states of consciousness, where you can connect with your own things that are not easy to visualize at first glance. With things that are in the shadows, to be able to work on them and heal them. “Real Self” also has something of a psychospiritual technique called pathwork, which for me, was transformative.
News: What does it consist of?
Drucaroff: For three years, every three months, I did five-day retreats in nature, where therapists from different currents shared their knowledge with us. According to the pathwork, the real self has to do with recognizing the lower self, our inferior being, our parts that we do not like to show. And it invites us to take off the mask with which we hide these things and try to make our lower self coexist with our higher self, the best of us, because that is when our real being flourishes.
News: In other words, in “Real Self” you put on a mask to take off your masks.
Drucaroff: Exact. To see if by putting on a mask, we can identify our everyday masks. At least make them conscious. Then you decide whether to use them or not, because sometimes it is necessary to use a mask. But it is good to know that you are using it, to decide when you use it or not, that it is not an automatic mask.
News: How much has “Real Self” changed since its inception?
Drucaroff: The most important thing is that I began to give more time to certain moments between instructions, so that what one feels has its due time.
News: He mentioned De la Guarda and Fuerza Bruta as inspiring sources, but in “Real Self” the protagonist is the audience, there are no artists.
Drucaroff: That’s why I say that it is a totally immersive experience, because you are the protagonist; And you also choose how to be it: with a more active or more passive role. In “Real Self” nothing is compulsive.
News: What expectations do you have for the tour?
Drucaroff: That in other societies, the experience is as enjoyable as it is here.
News: Will you do “Real Self” again in Buenos Aires?
Drucaroff: Yes, and the idea is to also take it to other parts of the country and Latin America. In addition, we are working on a version for companies that want to do the experience with their people, to address internal issues.
by Sergio Núñez
