A butoh-inspired performance, The 13th Chronicle, responds to the twelve chronicles in Sabes Algo de Mariana? (Do You Know Anything About Mariana?), a play by Mexican scholar and dramaturg Andres Castuera-Micher. Each chronicle in Castuera-Micher’s text narrates a gut-wrenching story of violence endured by women. For allegory purposes, each character in this play is named Mariana.
The inspiration for the performance comes from a very personal place and is an offering to reimagine the world. The 13th Chronicle is a space to consider what rituals and processes must be implemented to break the painful and horrible cycle of violence. We will gather to perform ways to mend the wounds and scars, to give voice to those who have been silenced and killed by this violence, and most importantly, to ensure that their names and lives remain in our collective memory.
In the context of this work, the snake has a fundamental meaning: it symbolizes fertility, fecundity, harmony, and connection with the earth.
With this ancestral archetype of the snake, I reconnect with my cultural lineage, rejecting the idea imposed by colonialism, patriarchy and Catholicism associated with women as a source of sin. If we change our consciousness and dress in the snake’s skin, we rediscover ourselves with all the potential that femininity houses.
Skin change is healing. We peel our skin to leave the past and renew ourselves.
If you tell me I’m a snake, then yes. I am; I carry the sign of the serpent in my blood and on my skin.
CREDITS
Concept, choreography, and performance: Salome Nieto
Artistic collaboration and performance: Barbara Bourget, Nicole Dreher, Lauren Han, Kaitlyn La Vigne, Jami Reimer, Krystal Tsai, Anna Wang-Albini
Special guest: Leonor Martinez Garcia
Soundscape and voice: Jami Reimer
Lighting design: Philip Birkby
Video design: Alberto Renteria Ibarra (Mexico)
Puppet Design: Liz Oakley
Graphic design: Carl Craig
Costume design: Katherine Soucie (London)
Technical Director: Anthony Trombetta
Stage Manager: Maddy Woodley
Stage Manager: Bernice Paet
Archival: Mena EL Shazly and Enrique Mohler
COMMITTEE
Senior Supervisor: Peter Dickinson (SCA Professor and Graduate Chair)
Committee Member: Gabriela Aceves-Sepulveda (SIAT Associate Professor)
Committee Member: Judith Garay (SCA Dance Faculty and Choreographer)
External Examiner: Alessandra Santos (Associate Professor, Film Studies, UBC)
I want to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor and committee for your endless support, feedback, and inspiration. This has been an experience of growth, challenge, and new connections. I am looking forward to the future!
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SCA & GCAPES STAFF:
Director, GCA Production and Event Services: Miles Lavkulich
SCA Technical Director: Ben Rogalski
SCA Production coordinator: Emily Neumann
Communications: Brady Cranfield
Lead Technician: Kevin Kim
Venue Technician: Zu Liniewski
Resident Technician: Darryl Strohan
Venue Technician/operator: Deborah Koesyonoe
ADDITIONAL CREDITS FOR IMAGES USED IN VIDEOS AND OTHER VISUALS
Opening Video and still: Mexico on road trip, Southeast México. Feet walking, Mayan Archeological zone
Colonia Polanco CDMX, Av Reforma, Mexico City and Burnaby BC, Canada
Source: Salomé Nieto
Rattlesnake source: National Geographic España (Así es el ataque mortal de la serpiente de cascabel más grande del mundo)
Pink crosses source: The Seattle Times (Disappearing Daughters | Mothers search for justice)
Closing video and still: Flower field: pixabay: Ambient_ Nature_Atmosphere • Milan/Italy • Miembro desde July 6, 2019. Flowers, Campo, Prado.
Other images of tombs and flowers: Seattle Times. Video: María tu Rosa
IF YOU WISH TO LEARN AND UNDERSTAND MORE THE PROBLEMATIC OF FEMINICIDE AND GENDER INEQUALITY? THESE ARE JUST A FEW RESOURCES TO START WITH:
https://www.observatoriofeminicidiomexico.org/
https://oig.cepal.org/en
https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/timeline/womenunite/en/index.html#/