Conversations in ten questions 93: Mónica Muñoz

Atta, Turkey's first and only international arts festival for babies and children, organized around November 20th, World Children's Rights Day, since 2016, celebrated its ninth anniversary in 2025. Having welcomed numerous international groups to date, the festival unites babies aged 0–3, children and young people aged 3–18, their accompanying adults, and children and young people with disabilities aged 3–18 through theatre, dance, music, film, exhibitions, and interactive activities. 

This year's programme included a variety of performances, ranging from dance theatre for babies aged 6–18 to a new circus for audiences aged 4 and over, as well as dance and object theatre. Between 20 and 30 November 2025, performances by groups from Turkey, Finland, Denmark, France, Norway, Lithuania and Ireland were staged in Istanbul at the Paribuart, Arter, Barış Manço Cultural Centre and Hisar Schools Cultural Centre. 

In the first of our conversations with participants from the latest international edition of the festival, we spoke with Mónica Muñoz, creator of the show Fall and Float.

Mónica Muñoz is a dancer, performance-maker, and educator originally from Barcelona and based in Dublin since 2014. She is interested in making exciting new performances for early years and young audiences. Recent productions include FLiP, FALL and FLOAT and the Irish tour of UP-CLOSE, commissioned and presented at Tipperary Dance International Festival, Ireland (2021). Previous work includes the acclaimed Princesses Can Be Pirates, funded by Business to Arts that toured Nationally and Internationally with support from The Irish Arts Council and Culture Ireland. Mónica is currently a participant of Meitheal, a dynamic support initiative for artists creating work for young audiences across the performing arts disciplines led by Branar. She was The Ark’s John Coolahan Early Years Artist in Residence 2021/22 and a recent GROW Pathways to Production Participant, an initiative from Baboró International Children's Festival in partnership with Druid, the Mick Lally Theatre, Branar Téatar do Phaistí, The Irish Theatre Institute (ITI) and Galway Theatre Festival. 

What do you think is the essence of performance? 

For me the essence of a performance lies in revealing authentic human experience, emotions and relationships to evoke deep feeling, making the audience feel connected to the work.

Do you believe in the transformative power of art? In what way? 

Yes, art can be profoundly transformative, specially for children, it can help to building essential life skills like social connections, empathy, resilience, ultimate empowering them to understand themselves, others, and the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. Specially in a society increasingly living on screens, live performing art is an act of resistance… 

When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your work? 

I’ve really always been a magpie artist. It’s about finding the interesting concept in a different field and bringing it back to your field. And this means you need to read a book, go to a film, not encase yourself in the one medium. Do something that’s completely different to what I do, and ask how can something that arises in that field illuminate my field. It’s the cross-pollination between things, that’s where the interesting stuff arises. Yes sometimes could be a dream, I very interested in surrealism in art.

When do you decide to give a piece you are working on a title if it does not already have one? 

Sometimes you have to give a tittle to a piece quite early in the process, sometimes before you have started… Most of the times this tittle it will not be the final one! During the process of creating a piece a lot of things develop in a diferent direction that you were planning… Its like the work itself enfolds in front of you… with the right title. 

Is there an artist or person who you think has influenced your art the most? And if so, who? 

Pina Bausch, I went to Germany to study in her school when I was 18 years old. She changed the landscape of what contemporary dance could be, always provocative and never conventional. Pina’s work is a rare, magical thing. Her art crosses boundaries, speaking to us honestly and directly about the universal nature of human experience.

Considering the current state of the world in every sense, what is the most important and urgent issue for you as an artist?

I believe in the important role of the performing arts. For me as an artist is key to create a shared space for empathy, collective action, and a sense of belonging. This is now more important than ever. I feel very lucky to be able to do what I do for a living, but I constantly have to fight to continuing to do so… 

When creating a piece for children and young people, are there particular things you pay special attention to? 

I pay special attention about the dynamics, but I think that the most important thing is to be clear about what are you trying to say.The key is to find that thing that you need to tell. If you can tap into the root of that thing you need to tell or need to express. I will pay special attention at the visual elements and at the physicality of the choreography, I think these two elements can really attract to young audiences in particular, but it has to come from an authentic place. 

From your CV, we understand that your career has focused entirely on creating pieces for young children and audiences. Could you tell us what attracted you to this path? 

I am inspired by the physicality and personal connection that children naturally have, especially when you are young, your body is full of movement, asking for running, jumping, touching. Then the imagination must be able to run wild in your brain. What you miss out on as a child, you won’t make up for later. I am interested in creating work that appeals to children’s zest for life and reawakens adults’ forgotten desires for surrender and physicality. 

How did you come up with the idea for your piece FALL and FLOAT, which we will see at the Atta Festival in Istanbul? 

FALL and FLOAT, started from the fascination of helium balloons and with the film The Red Balloon. I tried to think of a helium balloon as not simply a decoration but as an inanimate object that you can really animate, balloons that can both frustrate and fascinate the dancers in how they fall and how they float. With these balloons, a set of boxes, props, music and dance, I tried to get a human tale of falling and floating too, a quest to move, create and a relatable desire to relax and belong too. 

What are your impressions of the Istanbul audience? 

The audience in Istanbul were very engaged. They connected with our performance, there was a sense of curiosity and warmth in the air. It was really nice to have the opportunity to perform here.

The Turkish version of this interview was published in unlimited.