Have you ever wondered what an artist feels when she enlivens the heart of her audience, how much pressure she carries on her shoulders even knowing that she must let it escape to achieve naturalness and convince? There, on stage, all her dreams rest. And in the moved look, in the radiant smile, in the applause, there is that award for all her efforts.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Yaíma Guerrero could not imagine herself without a puppet in her hands. But the mischievous, loving, witty and crazy Tonguita arrived, and from that day on her name changed.

Let's talk about your professional beginnings in the theater.

I'm actually a Ceramics graduate from the Professional Academy of Plastic Arts here. But in my thesis, I did a comic for children and some friends took it to a play. In that process, I was involved with the little ones and, although I had previously worked informally with infants, from then on it became common for me to merge the visual arts with the performing arts.

Then, I started in Los Zahoríes Puppet Theatre. It was an unknown world for me, as I had previously become more involved with live performance. There I learned about manipulation techniques, I had the opportunity to evaluate myself and work alongside the founders of the puppet, whom I saw perform when I was a child.

How does this metamorphosis occur between the puppeteer and the clown actress?

This is consolidated when entering the Teatro Tuyo group. Although the first thing I did was a puppet show, I had the opportunity to participate in the emblematic piece Parque de Sueños (Park of Dreams) and, from now on, I hardly took a doll in my hands anymore. For more than a decade I was a member of this group, which contributed a lot to my training.

You have always spoken fondly of the work Narices. Why?

In Narices (Noses) I was happy because, in addition to working as an actress, I made the costumes for that staging, which were excessively worked and characterized each character in particular. I will never forget that experience.

Your distinguished character is Tonguita. What has she meant to you?

Curiously, it had existed before entering the Guignol, since it was born in the church and by its name I mean a number of beautiful things. But Tonguita grew more in the process of creating Parque de Sueños and established itself in Narices.

In addition, in life we have a purpose to fulfill to achieve fulfillment. Nobody knows what an actor feels when he sees children laughing and clapping. I think: Wow, I'm coming. You just want to touch that heart and give it peace, joy and life. It is when I say: Now I am Tonguita. (And cries with emotion).

What do you think it is to be a clown? What is your biggest challenge?

It is the one who lives in the mind of a child, who entertains and makes us think, who gives dreams, resolutions and takes us out of sadness and problems, who gives us another vision of life. The biggest challenge is going on stage to face the public.

Let's talk about that Lemonade that viewers taste.

The TunasVisión channel has been crucial in my career; I've been on screen for more than a decade. I worked at Pincel Mágico, together with talented friends, on Eating with rhythm, until I arrived at Limonada, directed by Waldina Almaguer.

Then something special happened. My child, who was about 3 years old at the time and didn't even speak well, told me: Mom, I want to work. I said: are you going to do everything the director tells you? He replied: yes. I suggested that he rehearse the facial gestures in front of the mirror (crying, laughing, being angry…) and he accomplished the task. In addition, the program is not only seen by children, because I have a large audience of grandparents.

In Cuba, it is not very common to see that acting duality between mother and young son. How much has this contributed to your improvement?

Derek and I have had a lot of fun and rapport, but behind that, there are long hours of rehearsal at home. It is very beautiful, although sometimes I have to get serious and be a mother. Sometimes we have had to improvise, without changing the script much, because I also interact with his contemporaries.

Working with my offspring has helped me enrich the fantasy of the little ones. Before I became a mother I saw them from afar, but once I am, I have become more sensitive, I have learned to play with the younger ones, I understand them ...

What did you feel when you won the Award for Female Performance for Limonada in the Félix B. Caignet contest, from Uneac in Santiago de Cuba?

You don't make a program to receive an award. When you work for an audience every day, you do it with love above all else. With Pincel Mágico we had already won the Popularity Award several times in provincial channel festivals. But that award was not expected. I was happy.

What other projects accompany your path?

I currently work at Los Zahoríes guiñol theater as a designer. I have my YouTube channel called Tonguita con Tonguita, where Derek also performs. And I want to resume, as soon as the pandemic allows it, the My Kingdom Project, with which I go to the Pediatric hospital, together with other people and, bed by bed, we make the patients happy, we talk, we sing songs and we give gifts. ...

I find it difficult to treat her as Yaíma. Seeing her with tears on her face, I understand the soul that enlivens that chubby character of so much love, I recall her expressive smile, the long eyelashes that signal the audience, her contortions, in short, the exaggerated, but beautiful, version of the woman who gives life. I imagine the hours at the sewing machine, together with her mother Maruja, to make costumes, her grandmother Bertha who also supports her, her close husband, the learning son. She thanks everyone, and also Waldina, her director and friend.

She holds the First Level of Performance and is well-loved by children. She sums up her feelings with these words: "I thank God for having Tonguita in my life."