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Euskera
You are not new in the theater but with this new situation we live in, how are you doing?
Quite well, I'm getting used to this new situation and I'm assuming it and thinking about what can be done now I'm touring with a musical called "Yo La Peor del Mundo" by Vaiven Producciones S.L.. It is true that the capacity of the theaters has been reduced to 50%, but we are fulfilling it. This gives you tremendous joy, it gives you the strength to go on.
Even so, you have worked hard during the pandemic. During the confinement, you have participated in the Etxekoak series, have you learned a lot from this experience?
Imagine, we did everything from home ourselves. We were actors, make-up artists, wardrobe technicians.... We were alone at home with the computer, the phone, with the objects used by the influencers, with that we have made a TV series. When we received the call they told us that they had a job for us to do from home called "Etxekoak". We talked about day-to-day, everyday things and it was very successful. In those days we were all living the same thing, I think people felt very identified.
If we go back to your beginnings, you practiced rhythmic gymnastics, did you always wanted to be a gymnast?
Yes, my sister gave me a gift. She digitalized all the competitions and all the exercises I had on VHS tapes, I watched all the championships from when I started gymnastics until I quit and when I was Spanish champion too. I was amazed when I saw them. It was me, my body, but in another place. I remembered how I was at that time but I remembered it differently. You can see that since I was little I always wanted to do something.
When did you realize you wanted to be an actress?
When I was 15 I saw the series "Un Paso Adelante". There I saw how there were schools where
you could learn theater, dance... And I told my parents that I wanted to go to one of those schools and learn acting, singing and dance.... That's how I realized what I wanted to do.
You have done theater and television, you even had a new experience in Spanish television. Having participated in the series Acacias38 has changed everything a bit, your character has become very famous. How did you live it?
At first I experienced it as just another job, it's true that it was an important leap. I participated in "Presunto Culpable" with the same production company and they called me directly to play the character of Maite Zaldúa. It is a daily mission series and I took it as a challenge. Suddenly you realize that it is very successful and that's when things start to change, especially in social media. Now the followers are from all over the world. Even so, I walk down the street the same way, very calm. But in the networks everything is big, they send me gifts, they write to me every day...
Do you have many followers from Latin America?
From all over the world, but especially from Latin America. I am also followed by many people from Europe, even from Asia, where there is also a Ylenia and Maitino fan club in China.
Maitino is the couple's Ship. I didn't know what it meant, I have learned it now, they are the new words used in the networks.
What is so special about this character to be so successful? Your character is a lesbian and that has ignited an empathy and attention towards the character?
When you get into the role of an LGTBI character you realize that the world needs referents; fiction also needs referents. We have seen more relationships between men but not so much between women.
Besides, the series is set in a different era...
At the beginning the series was watched more by grandmothers, now they have realized that young people also watch it. In the afternoons, there are many young people with their grandmothers watching the series, because it is interesting what they see and when there are characters of this type, it is much more interesting.
All this led to a different kind of relationship with your followers, didn't it?
Yes. At the beginning I only had about 3,000 followers,now I have more than 25,000. It's been a big change in a short time. I get everything, love letters because of the type of character, etc. We've always been told these things, but when you live them it's impressive. I thought that nowadays this kind of thing doesn't happen, but it does and you realize that there are people who want to thank you for your work. For us it is very exciting. At first I thought it would only be for this character, but now I realize that it continues throughout my career. The Etxekoak series, for example, was seen from Latin America and some are learning Basque to understand it.
They have also made an app, haven't they?
They have created an app called Fan Club Yenia Baglietto, run by a girl from Valencia. She has also created a wonderful website.
These fans came to Olite to see the show "Yo La Peor del Mundo". I met them there and they brought me a lot of gifts.
They have created a wonderful website called www.fanclubyleniabaglietto.com Everyone who subscribes gets a club card, I have number zero and Lander Otaola has number one.
On stage you have done everything: dancing, singing, theater for adults, for children, classics... You have done a lot of work for such a young person...
I have a very nice career, I've always been very brave. Many times I jump into the pool and then I think it's too big for me. But that's how you learn. You have to try and then evaluate what you can do. I'm like that in life too. From the very
I decided from the beginning to do everything. Now when I look back I realize that at the beginning I did everything and now I have to say no to some jobs, either because I think I've already done it or because I think I can't do it.
I have spent many years saying yes to everything. That has led me to do a lot of things: theater, Zarzuela, musicals, children's theater, theater for adults, drama, classics...
You have also made movies. It has nothing to do with theater or television. What do you feel most comfortable with?
I like everything. I've always had more opportunities in theater.
In cinema I've always played second-rate characters. Those characters have no time or opportunity to evolve. I really want to play an important secondary character or a protagonist. I like cinema very much, it has something to do between TV and theater as if it were a mixture. In cinema, you rehearse for each act as in theater and then post-production has more to do with television.
TV series are much faster. You do it and forget it.
Which theater character would you like to play?
I don't want to repeat characters, I want to do new characters, the classics have been interpreted too much and I think we should tend to do new things.
Theater is a work group, a small community, is created around a play?
I never see myself alone, there is always a group. It's not only the group of actors, but also all those who are behind.
You don't see all those people, but without them we wouldn't go anywhere.
In the theater you create a family. During the months you are working they become your best friends. Then the project ends and you may not see them for a long time but you have worked hand in hand with them.
In the theater you also have the audience's response...
The applause is so special.... Now in times of pandemic, even more special if possible. The spectators are grateful that we are on stage and we are grateful that they are in the seats. The spectators want to transmit that warmth and it really shows.
You are still working on "Yo La Peor del Mundo".
Yes, we have one more show in Torrejón de Ardoz, another in Mungia and a last one in Galicia.
It is a musical comedy that tells the life of Sor Juana Inés de la cruz. She was a feminist writer and wrote the first feminist poem. Her life is told and Iñaki Salvador has put music to her poems.
It is a very interesting life and very little is known about the trajectory of this woman. We should be grateful that it has been brought to the stage. You have to imagine what it was like to be a writer and a woman at that time, she was also a lesbian and for that reason she was taken to a convent. She wrote secretly in the convent, I think nobody knows her for having been a woman.
This is another example of how many stories we still have to tell, right?
For this we must rely on theater, television or audiovisuals.
The theater is used more to tell this type of stories. We need to introduce this type of characters in audiovisuals, especially women, we should not be afraid.
Are you going to premiere a new play with Lander Otaola?
We have had the idea of creating a play for a long time. Five years ago we did the play "Niños Dejad de Joder a la Pelota" at the Arriaga theater, in a small theater. So, after five years we have thought of doing another play, we are making our dreams come true.
If the work doesn't come, is it necessary to create it?
Now more than ever we are in a very strange moment. You don't know if you will have a job or not... So you have to create it. The play is called "Amor y Humor". We don't want to say much about the play, just tell you that we are both alone on stage. We will be Lander and Ylenia, there will be no characters.
Naiel Ibarrola will be at the piano and the music will be live. It is a comic autobiographical recital and there will be many surprises. There will also be a tribute to culture.
Is it necessary to give importance to culture?
Now more than ever. We need it, but people also need us.
You have created the play, have you done everything yourselves?
Yes, we did it ourselves. We have had the help of the production company CID and it will be premiered on February 12 at the Euskalduna Palace, then we will try to sell it.
Does the actor also have to be an expert in it?
In this profession and if you want to get ahead in your work you have to look at everything and in the theater more than in the audiovisual world.
In the audiovisual world there is always a production company behind, because carrying out a project in the audiovisual world without money is much more difficult. As a couple, we rehearse at home.
Naiel Ibarrola live with the piano, what a privilege... For us it has been a gift to meet him. We work very well together. As a musician, you don't do the same job twice and that's precious for us, he has surprises at every moment.
Speaking of music, I read that you are learning to play the guitar to compose songs.
I've wanted to learn to play the guitar for a long time. When I was little I went to the conservatory, I wanted to play the violin, but I also had training.
I trained three hours a day and later it was five hours of training. I had to choose between rhythmic gymnastics or playing an instrument.
I chose gymnastics and today I have a little regret about it, I have started to learn to play the guitar.
Since you mentioned rhythmic gymnastics... it requires a lot of discipline, doesn't it?
Yes. I started training when I was four years old and when I was seven a coach came from Russia. She trained at the Ipurua club. She chose some of us and we started to train harder.
When I was nine we went to the Spanish championship and I won it. At that time, I was federated and started to compete more. I trained 3 to 5 hours a day. I would go to school and train, not do anything else. They were also very strict with the weight.
We have always heard that it is very sacrificing?
When I was training, the fashion was to have a very elongated body like the Russians: you had to be like them, but I was the way I was.
How do you see rhythmic gymnastics today?
It has changed a lot now we have more information about the physique, about nutrition and about the psychological aspect, there is much more acceptance.
Do you still practice today?
I do sports every day and when I finish I do the rhythmic gymnastics stretching exercises, people in the gym always stare at me.
From time to time I like to introduce some exercise in the plays.
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