Reflections from Bogotá...
10.4.11
I have been talking to Rebeca Medina about coming to Bogotá since last January. We met through a mutual friend when I offered to help obtain official letters that would verify her study in New York. With letter of invitation from myself (on behalf of Contact NYC) and Movement Research, Rebeca secured funding from her university to study in New York for one month. It was her first time in the United States. Prior to meeting our mutual friend Adam while he was a Fulbright scholar in Bogota, she tells me, she was adamantly disinterested in the US. She preferred to travel and learn within South America.
Rebeca and I hit it off right away. Despite language barriers, I could tell her interests in dance and performance paralleled my own. We stayed in touch over the next few months and the next time she was in New York she saw my work-in-progress at the Fresh Tracks Studio Show. She told me she would arrange a residency for me with the company she danced for, Tercero Excluido—if I was serious about coming. I said I was.
What transpired over the next few months is so unbelievable to me, given the resources available in both countries. Here, where dance is no more viable a profession than in the US, this small dance company has managed to arrange a generous stay for me in the same complex as Espacio Abimental, where Tercero Excluido is in residence. They have opened their doors for me to participate, create, and offer my own research to the group. For the creative residency I am working with company members Rebeca Medina and Carolina Van Eps on a performance that will take place on October 22 at Espacio Abimental and again on October 25 at the Festival of Contemporary Dance.
A little about Tercero Excluido... The company is like a family, in such a way that I have only dreamed about in my own city. The rehearsals are focused but relaxed. Though the work is driven by a director, everyone has a deep investment in the work they have created. Rehearsals are 4 hours long, with the first half as an “open training.” Their training is physically demanding and open to the public--for free! There are usually one or two people from the community there, and this opening up of the practice brings a nice outside energy to the training. As in New York, dancers make great sacrifices to dance. They work many jobs and have crazy schedules. The difference is that transportation is a little more difficult, and travel at night a little less safe. (After our rehearsal last night, Rebeca, Carolina and I cozied up in a bed together and slept because traveling home at that hour from Abimental would be impractical for them.)
The piece they are working on, Baldio, was begun through a 4-month laboratory. Director Natalia Orozco invited participants to explore the concept of “wasteland” in their own bodies, mental interiors, personal and political histories. The laboratory involved studio practice and fieldwork. They went to the countryside and listened to the soundscapes created by both the natural world and human beings interacting with nature. They explored vocal work. After 4 months, Natalia surprised the group by telling them that they would perform the piece in one week. She provided a sketch for the entire evening-length work and the company was challenged to make this piece and perform it in just seven days. Rebeca and Carolina reflected on this experience last night as incredibly powerful. What followed was the initial version of Baltido, which Natalia would continue to tweak into the version they will perform this Saturday. Here is a video of the work in progress:
