A few weeks ago Rajiv Bhagwanbali invited me to be part of his event called Connecting the Culture. An event that stands for diversity, inclusivity and bringing people together. A platform to share stories from different cultures trough dance, spoken word and music. In my case this meant too mentally cross the South Pacific to Chile. Because I was born into a household with a father from Chile, and a mother from Holland.

I accepted his invitation because I felt encouraged to challenge myself. To research and to dive deeper into my roots, subsequently creating something new. To be vulnerable but yet empowered when sharing another side of me on stage with others. For this 2 minute solo, I was inspired by ‘La Cueca Sola’. The Cueca is the national dance of Chile. Traditionally the Cueca was danced by a man and woman together. La Cueca Sola – is a traditional dance born of the wives of political prisoners and families of the missing people as symbolic gestures of resistance to Pinochet’s dictatorship. The word sola means alone, signifying the women dance alone

This specific performance inspired me to push myself in creating this piece and to submit it at Cafe Theater Festival. To provide myself a stage to perform, to grow as a choreographer, to present a side of me that is not visible too many. And to continu my research, and it’s translation, in this personal story that I would like to share. Cafe Theater Festival, takes place in Utrecht once a year during the winter. For four straight days in a row, cafés throughout Utrecht become a setting for short performances created by various creatives in the theater circuit.

I am excited to share that the concept of my performance has been accepted for the festival. Meaning that from now on I will start to dive into my creative process, continu to work on my solo to make a piece from roughly 20 minutes. In this blog I will keep you updated about my journey in creating this solo and diving into my research.

To read about the cafe I have been assigned to perform my solo, click here

photo by Tante Kee (Niké)