Trama Project
Throughout the world, textile works are original samples of the most ancestral and diverse traditions of the ethnic groups that inhabit it. Knowledge passed down from generation to generation preserves that culture. In its embroidery the history of these peoples is portrayed through their symbols and their imagination. In the vast majority of fabrics, there are usually two types of threads. The warp, which is placed vertically and fixed on the loom, and the weft, which are the threads that, when moving horizontally, connect the different warps. Thus, our project, like the weft on a loom, has passed through diverse and distant peasant communities and indigenous populations of the world, uniting them with each other through stories, knowledge and practices.
In December 2015, inspired by our work in Uruguay as social artists, we decided to create the TRAMA* Project, which consists of bringing a show and theater workshops to peasant communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
For centuries, indigenous peoples had their own stories, legends and rituals that allowed them to connect with themselves and with their environment in a harmonious, respectful and empowering way. In the context of modern society, these myths, formerly transmitted by oral tradition, run the risk of being lost.
We don´t attempt to reassemble the ancient ritual of aboriginal theater, but rather to reinvent it by integrating its traditional rites-of-passage with modernity. Our theater strives to escape subservience and mediocrity. It challenges empty words and is a place to strip the soul bare. We wish to examine our roots and rediscover our ancestors and their forgotten rituals, and thus have the freedom to choose a set of practices that keeps us connected to our roots and at the same time allows us to deal with the demands of the present.
* Trama is a play on words in Spanish, as two of its meanings are "weft" and the other "plot"
METHODOLOGY
Consulting each community and attending to the present needs of each place, it is decided jointly with which population to work. Thus, work can be carried out with the following populations: school-age boys and girls, young men, young women, young men and women togheter, adult women, adult men, the general population. Sometimes groups with more specific characteristics have been approached: prison populations, health personnel, and workers in traditional trades.
Work in schools:
Bringing theater to schools means broadening the spectrum of linkage / appropriation in art, both in the role of spectator and potential creator. In turn, the scenic disciplines work on coordination, self-confidence, trust in others, listening, presence, respect, perseverance and determination. Our approach seeks to create a space where children can express themselves without pressure, accompany them in their development process and enhance their artistic abilities, without imposing pre-established forms and allowing their unique way of being.
Work with teenagers:
This particular stage of rapid change usually exposes us to a state of great vulnerability. We have found in the theater a tool with which to create a safe space for young people to share their fears, problems, insecurities, as well as their dreams, wishes and questions.
In the case of adult women:
We use the theater to move the body and the structures themselves. Various axes of gender issues are addressed through specific dynamics. Through the theater we are gradually encouraging ourselves to be on stage with our laughter and our serious stuff.
In the case of adult men:
It seeks to create a space where vulnerability is not a defect but a virtue. Special emphasis is placed on listening to the body and the other. It is proposed to accept "no" as a valid and respectable answer and from the "yes" creation where diversity is celebrated will be encouraged.
In the case of the general public (over 15 years old):
In this case, a process that aims to re-connect with the ancestors and with the sacred connections that unite humans with nature is approached. Stones, a variety of objects, and masks are used to remember a past, an emotion, or a feeling. These objects awaken a sensitivity closer to intuition than to rationality. Always with the utmost respect, participants are led to experience the power of these objects and the stories they symbolize. In this way, stories are collected that are of interest to the community and that serve as a channel to enhance some evolutionary and healing process in the present moment.
The duration of the workshops is variable, ranging from 1 week to 2 months, with a workload of 2-3 hours a day and a regime of 5 working days and two days off per week.
The work proposal seeks, through experiential experiences from physical theater training, theater of the oppressed, clown and theater of objects, the true encounter between the participants.
During the course of the process and depending on its length, the participants are offered the possibility of creating a show jointly with the actors and actresses of Amares. The show will revolve around the theme of the Absence. And it will start from the exploration of certain theatrical devices explored by Amares Teatro during the creation of the play RIO.
This space usually constitutes a forum for public dialogue, free from political and / or religious positions. This is how some participants find here the possibility of beginning to break the layers of silence.
The drum, the stones, the fire and the prayers invite the actors and actresses to touch their deepest wounds and rise to a level of true self-awareness. The theater allowed them many times to overcome themselves, connect with their inner strength and feed their imagination, re-discover their power to dream and, together, build a different future.
As a small nomadic tribe that moves, TRAMA takes the theatrical tradition of Amares Teatro to other regions and opens channels for it to be exchanged with other traditions and ways of understanding theater, art and life.
THE "MATEADAS"
One of the foundations of the project is to stay in a family home and live in the community for the duration of the workshop. In this way, the exchange of experiences transcends the space of the workshop, the whole experience being a coexistence that seeks to honor diversity.
In this sense it is proposed as another of the bases of the project "Las mateadas". These are festive gatherings that are carried out simply, not as formal artistic performances, but as moments of conviviality. A large open courtyard in celebration in which each one shares their own cultural heritage, be it song, food, dance, history or testimony of life. Art as a way of offering ourselves in community, without the need for any other device than the desire to exchange, share. Las Mateadas involves local communities, different artistic languages and ordinary people with different abilities, to create a real exchange between the participants.
testimonials
"I got to know the Troupe" Amares Teatro "through mutual friends and, above all, when its components were staying for a week in my own home here in Lins, in the Interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. They will participate in different activities with we ... were presenting themselves to the sick inmates in the city hospital and also to the two young groups inmates in a prison house (Fundação Casa), also in the same municipality. I was personally in most of the presentations and I was able to verify the excellent artistic quality of his interventions, as well as his very positive contribution in the perspective of a socio-cultural change trying to improve the lives of people, especially the poorest populations, the imprisoned, the sick, the young people and boys. For this reason, I fully agree with the terms of this project. "
Dr. Antonio Folquito Verona
(retired professor at the State University of
São Paulo - UNESP - Campus de Assis - Brazil).
Calendar 2016
BOLIVIA
-
Toro Toro: Escuela Fé y Alegría, 8 of August
-
Sajama: Escuela Municipal, 23 of September
PERÚ
-
Pisaq: K´an K´an Casa Cultural, 23 of October
-
Huamanurco: Predio comunitario, 22 of December
-
Puerto Huaman: Predio comunitario, 24 y 25 of December
Calendar 2017
GUATEMALA
-
La Habana: La Proa Theatre ,1 of February
-
San Cristobal de las Casas: Oficial workshop of the Festival "Festamalito"
In the Project "Festamalito por los barrios", October, November, December
Calendar 2018
CUBA
-
Guantánamo: Participation in the 28th Guantánamo-Baracoa Theater Crusade where theatrical shows are held to mountain populations with difficult access, February 11 to March 3
MEXICO
-
San Cristobal de las Casas: Work with a population of working boys and girls in the Zócalo, a project that included the organization of the International Street Art Festival aimed at working children "Festamalito", June-December
Calendar 2019
MEXICO
-
Santo Domingo Yojovi: Indigenous Community High School, January 28, 29, 30 and 31
-
Huehuetla: Centro de Estudios Superiores Indigenas Kgoyom, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of March
-
Sierra Taraumara: Work with young Rarámuris from the Telesecundaria de Gonogochi in collaboration with the Siné-Comunarr project, May 1 to 17
BOLIVIA
-
Sajama National Park: Work that continues the process started in 2016 and includes work with children and adolescents from the Municipal School, from August 11 to 22
EGYPT
-
Bayadiyyah: Project that includes work with the Bayadiyyah Municipal School, the local community theater group and the Mallawi arts and recreation group, November 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
-
Armant: Work in conjunction with Tanweer Organization that included a workshop with women educators, functions in 3 nearby towns and the intervention at the Shefaa Al Orman Hospital, November 18-28
-
Nuweiba: Work in conjunction with Dayra Camp that included work with the Bedouin-Tarabin tribes of Tarabeen, Muzzeina, Malha that inhabit the Sinai desert. From November 29 to December 5.
Calendar 2020
KENYA
-
Mossiro: Work with the Massai community that led to living 21 days in the community where we exchanged experiences with different people who occupy different roles (elderly, warriors in the initiation period (Morant), group of artisan women, school teacher, etc). Several theatrical performances were held at the weekly community market where people from various villages in the Massai Mara region converged. From December 22 nd, 2019 to January 11 th, 2020.
Calendar 2021
INDIA
-
Pin Valley: For a month we were researching on the popular theater tradition called Buchen, which bears certain similarities with the traditions of sacred clowns found throughout the entire American continent (Abyayala, a name used by indigenous peoples to refer to said continent). During the project, we conducted interviews and lived with the main actors of this tradition, we carried out theatrical interventions in their communities (Mudh, Sagnam, Kungri), we dictated a workshop for the nuns of the Buddhist Monastery of Kungri and we shared 3 RIO functions in: the Monastery Kungri Buddhist Monastery, the Kungri Buddhist Nunnery and the annual Spiti Valley Festival that brings together diverse cultural groups from across the valley.
Calendario 2022
INDIA
-
Majuli: In collaboration with the Bramaputra Cultural Foundation, we were part of the Majuli International Theater Festival, which included a workshop on presence and vulnerability for members of the Mising tribe, as well as a performance of our show RIO in a bamboo forest, a space provided by the community.