Rutas Panamericanas

Aluna Theatre and Native Earth present

Rutas Panamericanas | Panamerican Routes Festival

We were honoured to partner with Aluna Theatre to produce the second Rutas Panamericanas|Panamerican Routes Festival.

We worked with Aluna to light up the whole of Daniels Spectrum with this vibrant festival, offering Aki Studio as its beating-heart centre.

Aluna and NEPA proudly acknowledged the power of the arts to extol and unify our communities, who, for several hundreds of years, have walked similar rocky and spectacular paths. This multi-arts festival boasted a collaboration between Anishnaabe Émilie Monnet of Montreal and Waira Nina from the Colombian Amazon, a multi-disciplinary exploration of the disappearance of the El Cartucho neighbourhood of Bogotá by Mapa Teatro, and an abundance of flourishing works-in-progress, bold conversatorios, earth-shaking performance art and decidedly unconventional conferences.

Click here for Rutas Panamericanas Press Release.
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Festival Line-up – schedule
masterclasses – details
propuestasdetails

International Shows

witness to the ruins
Presented by Mapa Teatro (Columbia)

Urban OdysseyA multi-media piece documenting the disappearance of one of the oldest and most dangerous “barrios” in downtown Bogotá, El Cartucho, as it was redeveloped into a modern city park. Witness to the Ruins is the result of five years the company spent with the residents of El Cartucho before, during, and after its razing.

Mapa Teatro is one of the foremost artistic companies in Colombia, and one of the favorites on the world stages in Europe and Latin America. This work is a co-production with the Wienerfestwochen and the Zuercher Theaterspektakel, Zurich.  Since its first presentation in Vienna in 2005, it has traveled to festivals in Berlin, Geneva, Prague, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Sao Paulo, Yale and Columbia Universities, and many others.
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nk-603: action for performer & e-máiz
Presented by Violeta Luna (Mexico/USA)

Urban OdysseyRenowned Performance Artist Violeta Luna returned to the panamerican ROUTES Festival with a provocative confrontation between capitalist science and ancient ways of life. Máiz plays a symbolic role in ritual, and is a key traditional food source from the American Southwest to Patagonia. NK 603 is the name of one of the many genetically modified corn seeds available in the market.

Violeta is a recipient of a San Francisco Arts Commission award, is a member of La Pocha Nostra, and has toured extensively with her performance pieces throughout Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the USA.
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antigona
Presented by Yuyachkani (Perú)

Urban OdysseyBeautifully performed by one of Peru’s greatest actresses, Teresa Ralli, this one-woman show is an astounding retelling of the classic Greek tragedy, set in Peru after 20 years of bloodshed surrounding the internal conflict of the 80’s and 90s in that country.  This version was developed through interviews with families of the “disappeared” by Peruvian poet José Watanabe, based on both on Sophocles’ original text and on a contemporary understanding of the trauma.

Yuyachkani is a Quechua word which means “I’m thinking / I’m remembering”.  The group is recognized worldwide as one of the greatest exponents of Peruvian and Latin American Theatre.  They were awarded Peru’s National Honors for Human Rights in 1999 and worked with Peru’s Truth Commission investigating crimes against humanity committed during the 1980s and early 1990s.
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diego y ulises
Presented by Diego y Ulises (Argentina)

Urban OdysseyInspired by the world of cult filmmaker Gus Van Sant, this Argentine love story fuses theatre and dance to thrilling effect. Two young men wait for the day to go by. They laugh. They fight. They drink Coca Cola. Imperceptibly, everyday actions take on a profound poignancy. Wordless, completely modern and athletically danced, this is beautifully crafted theatre dance.

Winner of the Igualdad Cultural Prize in Argentina, the work has toured extensively in Europe and Latin America.
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National Shows

what i learned from a decade of fear
Presented by Aluna Theatre (Toronto)

A Karmic Accounting / Interrogation Ritual to explore how to own a decade of repression, war, and security paranoia. Did we let them change the world in order to preserve it? Could it be incriminating, to have an average life? What if we believe it, when we are told this was done for us?

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the refuge of freidel
Presented by The Friedel Collective (Toronto)

About the show: Inspired by the plays of one of Colombia’s most controversial playwright /directors, José Manuel Freidel, this compelling one-woman show is a poetic biographical account of the forced exile and refugee experience of a Colombian actor now living in Canada. A brilliantly performed piece presented at the Impact Festival, Harbourfront Centre’s Ritmo y Color, and the And Social Justice For All Conference in Montreal.

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alicuanta
Presented by Gitanjali Jain Serrano & David Ryshpan (Montreal)

About the show: The legacy of General Francisco Roque Serrano (1889-1927), an influential yet mysterious figure of the Revolutionary era who was assassinated by his opponent in the midst of a presidential campaign, is told by his great-granddaughter, Gitanjali. Song and story draw forth an ancestor in an attempt to make peace with the tumultuous history of 1920’s Mexico.  An hour-long suite for voice, piano, drums, cajón, and string quartet.

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in spirit
Presented by Native Earth Performing Arts (Toronto)

About the show: click here.

Native Earth Performing Arts is the oldest professional Indigenous performing arts company in Canada. They have been central in the development of a community of theatre artists, and have contributed to the creation of several plays that have become canonical in Canadian theatre.  NEPA has been awarded 7 Dora Mavor Moore Awards and 27 nominations.
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community workshops

women & community
Lead Instructor: Teresa Ralli
Another workshop from the renowned Teresa Ralli working on community building and confidence for women.

beading (for ages 8 and up)Lead Instructor: Waira Nina
Learn the art of beading with a renowned international artist.

story telling and canoe painting (for ages 10-15)
Lead Instructors: Benjamin Tisoy & Floresmiro
To the indigenous peoples of Colombia and the Americas, the ‘water thinkers’ (the canoes) are considered ‘spaces of exchange of knowledge’ through which we take and bring the wisdom and expertise from other places.

Benjamín Jacanamijoy Tisoy, whose artistic name is Uaira Uaua (son of the wind), lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia. Since the publication of his work Chumbe Arte Inga in 1993, which was his first attempt to recover and revalidate his own history, his artistic work and research have focused on the concept of “weaving life” and the art of storytelling.

conversatorios

To connect the shows with the current issues that energize them, panamerican ROUTES | RUTAS panamericanas hosted a four-day conference with panels of artists, academics and social innovators from across the Americas, including a keynote by award-winning author, Diana Taylor.  Academic production partners included the University of Toronto, York University and Glendon College, Brock University, Ryerson University.

This year’s theme was How we live together.  Provocative sessions include: Truth and Reconciliation, Treaties, Maiz, The Displacement and Migration of Youth, Femicide in the Americas, and Urban Renewal from Regent Park to El Cartucho.