This video documents an evening of music and dance by contemporary Native American and African American performers, presented at the Francisco Nunes theater in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, as a part of the 5th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, titled Performing Heritage: Contemporary Indigenous and Community-Based Practices. This performance brings together four contemporary American performances drawing from the artists' cultural roots: Quetzal Guerrero (Native American violinist and dancer), Larry Yazzie (Meskwaki/ Dine World Champion Fancy Dancer), David Pleasant (African-American Gullah/Geeche percussion and song, performing with dancer Joyah Pugh), and Dancing Earth (Indigenous Modern Dance collective directed by Rulan Tangen, with the participation of Quetzal Guerrero, Anthony Thosh Collins and Alejandro Meraz). Quetzal Guerrero and Thosh Collins open the evening with a traditional chant from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa indian community, followed by Quetzal's original solo violin piece. Larry Yazzie then performs his dazzling powwow Fancy Dance from Tama, Iowa, followed by the energetic and powerful percussion of African American David Pleasant, who draws on rhythms dating back to slavery in the United States. Dancing Earth performs a dance piece about the creation of the earth, and the evening ends with all performers bringing together their traditions--and the audience--on stage. There is also a post-performance discussion with the artists, in which they talk about the origins and meanings of their performances.

Dancing Earth performance begins at the 00:30:20 mark.

Entrevista com o Pamyua, conduzida por Andrew McLean durante o 5^o Encuentro do Instituto Hemisférico de Performance e Política, realizado em março de 2005 em Belo Horizonte, Brasil, sob o título Performance e “Raízes”: Práticas Indígenas Contemporâneas e Mobilizações Comunitárias. Nesta entrevista, os quatro membros fundadores do Pamyua, Stephen Blanchett, Phillip Blanchett, Ossie Kairaiuak e Karina Moeller, falam sobre as suas formações, as origens da banda e como a sua música mescla as canções Yup’ik tradicionais com as influências musicais afro-americanas, como a música gospel, o R&B, o jazz e o funk, para criar um estilo nativo novo e único. Eles falam sobre as suas experiências como nativos urbanos e as suas relações com as suas raízes, uma relação que, para eles, tem implicado um delicado processo de negociação cultural entre diferentes tradições e gerações. Dentre outras coisas, eles discutem como eles são vistos pelos Yup’ik mais idosos, os problemas que as suas comunidades estão enfrentando e como eles são encarregados, como novos veículos da cultura Yup’ik, de revitalizar a sua identidade entre os jovens.

Mélange of music and dance by contemporary Native American and African American performers, presented at the Francisco Nunes theater in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, as a part of the 5th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, titled Performing Heritage: Contemporary Indigenous and Community-Based Practices. This performance brings together four contemporary American performances drawing from the artists' cultural roots: Quetzal Guerrero (Native American violinist and dancer), Larry Yazzie (Meskwaki/ Dine World Champion Fancy Dancer), David Pleasant (African-American Gullah/Geeche percussion and song, performing with dancer Joyah Pugh), and Dancing Earth (Indigenous Modern Dance collective directed by Rulan Tangen, with the participation of Quetzal Guerrero, Anthony Thosh Collins and Alejandro Meraz). Quetzal Guerrero and Thosh Collins open the evening with a traditional chant from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa indian community, followed by Quetzal's original solo violin piece. Larry Yazzie then performs his dazzling powwow Fancy Dance from Tama, Iowa, followed by the energetic and powerful percussion of African American David Pleasant, who draws on rhythms dating back to slavery in the United States. Dancing Earth performs a dance piece about the creation of the earth, and the evening ends with all performers bringing together their traditions--and the audience--on stage. There is also a post-performance discussion with the artists, in which they talk about the origins and meanings of their performances.

Luisa Calcumil's 1987 solo show, Es bueno mirarse en la propia sombra is a plea for the preservation of Mapuche indigenous culture in the face of the homogenizing forces of globalization. 

The play opens with Calcumil's voice in the dark, introducing herself in the Mapuche language as 'a person of the earth.' We then see her as a grandmother singing in Mapuche and being killed by white invaders who destroy indigenous land and build nuclear dumps. Next is the story of Julia and her mother: in dire financial straits, Julia's mother is forced to send Julia to work in the city as a maid. After many years, she goes back for her, only to find out she?s left her job and given birth to a boy. Calcumil then transforms into Julia, dancing to pop music, wearing flashy clothes. Julia constantly tells herself, 'You're so beautiful, Julia!' 'Why think?' 'Your skin is whiter!' She wants to forget she was raped, forget where she came from, forget she is Mapuche. But even as she calls herself Julie and gets a Western education, her dead grandmother appears in her dreams singing traditional songs, relentlessly reminding her that she can't deny her roots.

This video documents Calcumil's performance at the Teatro da Cidade in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, as a part of the 5th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, titled Performing Heritage: Contemporary Indigenous and Community-Based Practices

Coatlicue Theater Company produced a three-minute video demonstrating their storytelling/playwriting/theater workshops. Included in the footage are clips from a workshop held in Chiapas, Mexico. The companys workshops are divided into three parts. The first part is aimed at getting participants to open up to one another to begin to work collectively. Its devoted to exercising the body through sounds and movement to stimulate the imagination and awaken the body, mind, and spirit. The second part is designed to teach storytelling and involves exercises that develop trust, listening, and communication skills. Here the Colorado sisters demonstrate the different ways to tell a story, how to work together to tell a story, and listening to others tell a story. Participants are then taught how to incorporate their earlier exercises into the storytelling process and work on developing a theater piece.

Elvira and Hortencia Colorado, Chichimec Otomi storytellers, playwrights, performers and community activists are founding members of the Coatlicue Theatre Company. Based in New York City, they are also members of danza Mexica Cetiliztli, New York Zapatistas and the American Indian Community House. 'Caracol, Corazón de la Tierra, Flor de la Esperanza' was created after the Colorado sisters lived and worked with communities in five autonomous municipalities in Chiapas, México. Their text is weaved from the voices of the Zapatista indigenous women they encountered. It is a collage of their thoughts, stories and music: the fire of their resistance, struggle and hope for a better future. This play was performed at the Francisco Nunes theater in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, as a part of the 5th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, titled Performing Heritage: Contemporary Indigenous and Community-Based Practices.

Holding Up the Sky is a series of theater skits addressing issues of borders and immigration at work in indigenous communities, ranging from the grotesque to the poignant, from the deeply personal to global issues devastating their communities. Distinctive elements of this performance are the use of humor in storytelling and the participation of audience members to 'hold up the sky' as inspired by Mayan mythology. Muriel Miguel (Spiderwoman Theater) contextualizes this event by talking about Coatlicue's long relationship with the American Indian Community House (www.aich.org), and the fact that this Indian Summer is the last series of performances at The Circle in the AICH's current location.

Entrevista com Hortencia e Elvira Colorado, da Coatlicue Theater Company, conduzida por Diana Taylor durante o 4^o Encuentro do Instituto Hemisférico de Performance e Política, realizado em julho de 2003 em Nova Iorque, nos Estados Unidos, sob o título ‘Espetáculos de Religiosidades’. Elvira e Hortencia Colorado, contadoras de estórias, dramaturgas, artistas performáticas e ativistas comunitárias de origem chichimec otomi, são membros fundadores da Coatlicue Theater Company. Elas também são membros da danza Mexica Cetiliztli, da New York Zapatistas e da American Indian Community House. As peças da Coatlicue Theater Company abordam questões sociais, políticas, culturais e de identidade que impactam as suas vidas e as suas comunidades. O seu trabalho é baseado nas estórias que elas tecem juntas, que tanto educam quanto entretêm, enquanto reafirmam a sua sobrevivência como mulheres americanas nativas urbanas. Elas já conduziram oficinas de contação de estórias/teatro e receberam o prêmio Ingrid Washinawatok de Ativismo Comunitário.

Arctic's (from Alaska and Greenland) performance group Pamyua reinterprets modern traditions of the Inuit and Yup'ik Eskimo through storytelling, music and dance. Pamyua performs Yup'ik danced stories that portray the traditions of the Yup'ik culture in Southwestern Alaska. The quartet also harmonizes ancient and original music that redefine the boundaries of Inuit expression. Pamyua's mixes R&B, jazz, funk, and world music to create a unique new native style. The performances are very dynamic, ranging from traditional dances to Tribalfunk dances—worldmusic.

Additional Links

Pamyua in Concert (2005)
Interview with Pamyua (2005)
Pamyua on 2005 Hemispheric Institute Encuentro Website

Nesta performance burlesca de cabaré, os "Quatro Cavaleiros do Apocalipse" encenam a guerra da Humanidade contra a Natureza, numa reflexão "metafísica" sobre terrorismo, vigilância e a sociedade de espetáculos. Após os ataques terroristas de 11 de setembro de 2001, em Nova York, "uma esperança de guerra renasce" juntamente com o iminente e "esperado extermínio da Natureza". Um grupo de mulheres voluntariam-se para serem trancadas na sede da Mega Corporation ("um produto da fusão global do mercado da autocompetição perfeita"), uma espécie de show reality de tevê onde os debates metafísicos se justapõem aos concursos de beleza, limbos burocráticos e últimas ceias teatrais. "Alcançe Sua Metafísica 2002" é um concurso de beleza onde os Quatro Cavaleiros -- representados pela Fome, Epidemia, Guerra e Morte-- são confrontados com questões filosóficas: o que é conhecimento? Desejo? Consciência? O destino da raça humana? Daí, os participantes do programa tornam-se secretários do governo onde, entre fofoca e morosidade, pretendem terminar seus relatórios de avaliação da Mega e como seus Ministérios (da Abundância, Paz, Verdade e Amor) contribuíram para o objetivo e realização da empresa de "destruir a Natureza e a Humanidade de uma forma prazeirosa". As mulheres, então, transformam as personagens dramáticas da "Casa de Bernarda Alba", de Federico García Lorca, numa versão satírica durante um jantar onde as filhas insistem em fazer Bernanda contar-lhes "a Verdade". Bernarda confessa que é a Mãe Natureza, a Big Mother, que criou seus filhos a fim de se contemplar e de se espelhar. A peça caleidoscópica de olhares é, desta forma, multiplicada, num vórtex de vigilância onde Big Mother imita Big Brother ambos como a distopia de "1984" de Orwell e como um show reality de tevê mexicano homônimo. Agravados "metafisicamente", os Cavaleiros matam a Mãe Natureza, deixam o planeta estéril e embarcam numa "cruzada contra o terrorismo extraterrestre".

Inserções de vídeo da performance "Big Mother: El Gran Desmadre": Aqui, incluem-se: cenas filmadas de um noticiário dos ataques terroristas ao World Trade Center, em Nova York; um comercial apresentando a Mega Corporation ("um produto da fusão global do mercado da autocompetição perfeita") em sua "cruzada contra o terrorismo"; três trechos de telenovelas mexicanas; um comercial com um famoso ator mexicano; um "flash" informativo e satírico sobre a vigilância das câmeras da "Big Mother" (instaladas a fim de observar a população mexicana, a procura de possíveis terroristas contra a soberania do Estado); um momento filmado das "filhas de Bernarda Alba" numa terra estéril, agitando a bandeira mexicana. Todas essas seqüências filmadas complementam a reflexão "metafísica" do show sobre terrorismo, vigilância e a sociedade dos espetáculos, numa espécie de "show reality de tevê" onde os debates metafísicos se justapõem aos concursos de beleza, limbos burocráticos, e últimas ceias teatrais em busca da Verdade entre a guerra contra a Natureza e a Humanidade.

Video Holdings

Big mother: el gran desmadre
Big mother: el gran desmadre (inserções de vídeo)