Woensdag 28 maart 2012, 11:30 - 13:00
Studio T, Kromme Nieuwegracht 20, Utrecht
Toegang gratis, aanmelden via Vrede van Utrecht
Nightwind Performance:
The program begins with a 30-minute performance based on Hector Aristizábal’s true story of being arrested and tortured by the US-supported military in Colombia. After his release, he witnessed the killings of many of his friends. In exile in the United States, his taxes fundthe war in Iraq including torture at Abu Ghraib and the continued bloodshed in his country. In 1999, when Aristizábal’s brother was abducted and killed by the paramilitary, his own rage and desire for violent revenge was awakened–what he calls “the terrorist within.” Inspired by his
own young children, he finds ways to re-channel this terroristic energy into constructive action. Aristizábal’s movement-based performance becomes a springboard for audience members to explore issues of importance in their own lives. The direction of the workshop will change depending on audience member’s interests and desires.
Nightwind Participatory Workshop:
Immediately after the performance Hector invites the audience into a brief dynamic meditation as a way to provide catharsis to the different emotions awakened by the theater piece. Afterwards using the techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed (please see description below), Hector invites participants to express their reactions to the images of torture by creating their own images in response.
The content of the performance and the scenarios often lead to explorations of other cycles of violence – family violence, gang violence – and the exploration of ideas on how to break them.
About Theatre of the Oppressed:
Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), developed by Brazilian artist and activist Augusto Boal, uses the techniques of theatre to create dialogue and encourage creative thinking and action about 2 economic and social problems. His desire was to transform performance from a monologue presented by artists to a passive audience of spectators into a dialogue in which audience members become”spect-actors”--invited to choose the issues to be explored and then to intervene directly with their own words and actions during a performance. His Image Theatre techniques invite participants to express emotions and represent situations through
physical gesture. Boal was arrested under Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1971, tortured and “encouraged” to go into exile. During his years in Europe, Boal met people who struggled with internalized oppression rather than direct repression by a military government and began to adapt his ideas to address these different needs. After the fall of the military dictatorship in 1985, Boal was able to return home where he has continued to develop techniques that are used by teachers, therapists, community organizers, grassroots lobbyists taking issues to their
legislators, and many others.
Bron: www.vredevanutrecht.nl
