Belgian premiere
“I am looking for dance that is not only dance but also a social movement,” says Amanda Piña, a Chilean-Mexican choreographer and performer who is fascinated by ancestral dance forms and the worldview from which they arise. In Danzas Climaticas, she links her growing concern about the plundering of natural resources with the traditional dances of the Masewal people in Mexico. Like the Masewal, Piña believes that all life is connected. Together with Drama students from the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, she re-creates these dances in a new context.
“For my new piece, Danzas Climaticas, we show the revival of a dance of the Nahu – the Masewal from the Sierra Norte de Puebla. In the context of climate change, natural disasters and plundering by the transnational mining industry – ‘the Grim Reaper’s mega projects’, as the native population in the Sierra calls them – some of the old dances are coming back. People realize that the obligation to dance and make sacrifices to the mountains has been neglected. The mountain is not simply geology for the Masewal, but a living being. It cannot be considered only matter. It is a being that gives water, that relates to the wind in order to create rain. So in this performance, the dances are the mountain, or the spirit of the mountain.” (Etcetera 2019)
choreography Amanda Piña, Juan Carlos Palma, Masewaltraditional - composition and musical performance Christian Müller - with Amanda Piña and Drama students from the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp - trainee Hannah De Meyer - production Nadaproductions - coproduction deSingel Museo Universitario el Chopo (Mexico), Tanzquartier Wien
