Santiago Cumplido presents Vangeline in EGREGOR: The Sensory Ritual of the Future from September 25-October 19, 2025 at New City Center Capilla Gótica, Instituto Cultural Helénico, Mexico City. Tickets start at $650 MXN and can be purchased here.

“Together we created it, now he destroys us.” EGREGOR comes to life with these words. The new transdisciplinary spectacle envisioned by Mexican artist and creative director Santiago Cumplido is an immersive performance that fuses experimental dance, baroque opera, and cutting edge stage technology inside one of Mexico City’s most emblematic venues: the Capilla Gótica (Gothic Chapel) at the Instituto Cultural Helénico.

New York’s own butoh icon Vangeline joins Santiago for the world premiere of EGREGOR in Mexico City this fall. This international collaboration bridges Mexico City’s avant-garde with New York’s experimental dance scene. Cumplido says, “I am always in search of true stage magic. When I met Vangeline, I knew she was a stage wizard that has the ability to stop time. Ever since then we’ve both known the time to co-create would come. That time is now.”

More than theater, EGREGOR is a ritual of the future; a sensory experience that confronts audiences with a dystopian vision of Mexico: a landscape where humanity dissolves into its digital reflection, giving life to an entity born from the collective unconscious. Through butoh and neoclassical dance, acrobatics, live music, and immersive projections, the work becomes a portal that invites viewers to question their relationship with technology and artificial intelligence.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Santiago Cumplido del Castillo is a Mexican-born, Spanish citizen countertenor, composer, and director whose work bridges music, theater, dance, and transdisciplinary creation. Trained at the Conservatorio de las Rosas in Mexico, Trinity College of Music in London, the Conservatori de Liceu in Barcelona, and the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, he studied with leading teachers such as Michael Chance, Peter Kooij, and Raquel Pierotti.

As a countertenor, Santiago has collaborated with international ensembles including the English Baroque Orchestra, Orquesta de Bellas Artes, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuba, and appeared at major festivals such as the Festival Cervantino, Seoul International Music Festival, Utrecht Early Music Festival, and Cannes Film Festival. His repertoire ranges from Monteverdi, Handel, and Gluck to Britten and contemporary works, performing in opera houses and concert halls across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Beyond performance, Santiago is an active composer and artistic director. He has written music for films, documentaries, and original stage works, and has led ensembles such as Proyecto de la Música Infinita, the Baroque Orchestra of Zapopan, and the fusion ensemble Kontramariachi. He has also served as artistic director for large-scale cultural events, including the GDLUZ Festival, Calaverandia, and Navidalia, and has created multidisciplinary productions for theaters, festivals, and government commissions. With additional training in body psychotherapy and healing arts, Santiago brings a unique integrative vision to his work—merging music, movement, technology, and spirituality into a singular artistic language. He is currently focused on new projects with Kontramariachi and Creaturas Análogas, as well as forthcoming ventures in film, fashion, and transdisciplinary art.

Vangeline is a New York–based teacher, choreographer, and dancer specializing in Japanese Butoh. As the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute, she is widely recognized for her rigorous, research-driven approach to Butoh and for expanding the form’s relevance in the 21st century. Her work actively champions diversity and inclusion within the field, creating space for historically underrepresented voices. She carries forward the legacy of Butoh while infusing it with contemporary relevance—through activism, research, and performance.

Through her all-female dance company, Vangeline creates socially engaged, innovative choreographic works that unite Butoh with activism. She is the founder of both the New York Butoh Institute Festival, which uplifts the work of women in Butoh, and Queer Butoh, a festival centering LGBTQ+ voices within the form. She is also the visionary behind The Dream a Dream Project, an award-winning program now in its 18th year that brings Butoh to incarcerated individuals in correctional facilities across New York State.

At the heart of Vangeline’s philosophy is the belief that Butoh can be a tool for both personal and collective transformation. Her work reflects a deep commitment to integrating the many dimensions of the human experience—beauty and darkness alike—and reintegrating society’s marginalized voices.

Vangeline’s choreography has been presented internationally in Chile, Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Denmark, the UK, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. She is the recipient of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award for her groundbreaking project The Slowest Wave, which explores the intersection of Butoh and neuroscience. She was also a 2022–2023 Gibney Dance in Process resident artist, a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere, and the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award and the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Her work has been supported by institutions including the National Endowment for the Arts, Japan Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Asian American Arts Alliance.

Her work has been widely acclaimed, both nationally and internationally, with critics praising its power, precision, and emotional resonance. Reviews have appeared in publications including the New York Times (“captivating”) and the Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”), to name just a few.

Widely regarded as an authority in her field, Vangeline has taught at Princeton University (Princeton Atelier), Cornell, NYU, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence, and Duke University.

Her work extends to film as well, including a starring role opposite James Franco and Winona Ryder in Jay Anania’s feature film The Letter (Lionsgate, 2012). She has also been commissioned by Grammy Award–winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus).

Vangeline is the author of the critically acclaimed book Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which delves into the connection between Butoh and neuroscience. She led the first-ever scientific study measuring the effects of Butoh on the brain (The Slowest Wave). Her work has been profiled in CNN’s Great Big Story (“Learning to Dance with Your Demons”), featured on the BBC’s Deeply Human podcast (with host Dessa), and explored in her own podcast Butoh Musing with Vangeline.

She is currently developing MAN WOMAN, a new Butoh duet in collaboration with Akihito Ichihara of the world-renowned Butoh company Sankai Juku.

VANGELINE THEATER/ NEW YORK BUTOH INSTITUTE aims to preserve the legacy and integrity of Japanese Butoh while carrying the art form into the future, with a special emphasis on education, social justice, research, and archiving. For more info, visit: www.vangeline.com Vangeline Theater programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. www.vangeline.com

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