Más que un Pétalo
"Más que un Pétalo" (More than a Petal) is a multidisciplinary performance and workshop series deconstructing the immigrant experience in the United States. Using dance, theater, textile arts, music and video, the performance invites audiences to see the immigration experience through the eyes of a taxo flower, Tauzhu Sisa, an Ecuadorian native plant. The flower, dressed in a costume hand-sewn by the artist, starts losing its petals as a take on the game “loves me, loves me not.” As each petal is taken off, words categorizing immigrants such as “welcomed” or “not “welcomed” are exposed. The flower soon realizes that these labels carry the same weight of being wanted and then not wanted by a country and its peoples - a constant emotional rollercoaster. The flower is left to rediscover her worth beyond these labels, her "petals".
The workshop series will engage immigrants in NYC to reclaim our intrinsic value.Through writing, theatrical and somatic expeditions, participants will be able to create space to process their relationships to immigration and how it’s shaped their identities. The workshop will offer space to build community with one another and become acquainted with our different yet similar expeditions. At the end of the workshop, by looking at our cultural contributions and economic impact (MapTheImpact.org), participants will create a personal immigrant mantra, a written statement reminding us of our strength and value, to be used in times of uncertainty and immigration/ identity limbo.
This project aims to bring audiences on a journey of radical love and empowerment of immigrant narratives.
“Más que un Pétalo" is sponsored by the 2022 American Immigration Council Fellowship of the Creative Equations Fund, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), along with Motive Brooklyn, Suite V Brooklyn and the Ecuadorian American Cultural Center.
CREDITS:
Written and Performed: Salomé Egas
Direction: Brynne O'Rourke
Dramaturgy Assistance: Kim Morales & Brynne O'Rourke
Music: Julián Velasco
Visuals: Annie Del Hierro-Jost
Costume: Salomé Egas
The workshop series will engage immigrants in NYC to reclaim our intrinsic value.Through writing, theatrical and somatic expeditions, participants will be able to create space to process their relationships to immigration and how it’s shaped their identities. The workshop will offer space to build community with one another and become acquainted with our different yet similar expeditions. At the end of the workshop, by looking at our cultural contributions and economic impact (MapTheImpact.org), participants will create a personal immigrant mantra, a written statement reminding us of our strength and value, to be used in times of uncertainty and immigration/ identity limbo.
This project aims to bring audiences on a journey of radical love and empowerment of immigrant narratives.
“Más que un Pétalo" is sponsored by the 2022 American Immigration Council Fellowship of the Creative Equations Fund, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), along with Motive Brooklyn, Suite V Brooklyn and the Ecuadorian American Cultural Center.
CREDITS:
Written and Performed: Salomé Egas
Direction: Brynne O'Rourke
Dramaturgy Assistance: Kim Morales & Brynne O'Rourke
Music: Julián Velasco
Visuals: Annie Del Hierro-Jost
Costume: Salomé Egas
Reflejo
Reflejo is a performance piece that retells the story of colonization of Ecuadorian indigenous bodies through the manipulation of Incan cosmovision. Historically, Catholic churches in Ecuador, now places of worship for many indigenous and mestizo peoples, were initially place of captivity and erasure. Upon arrival and destruction of Inca settlements, Spanish catholic priests built massive churches and decorated its altars with mirrors to reflect sunlight into its insides. The performer narrates how Catholic priests captured INTI, Incan God Sun’s reflections, through the use of mirrors. They used these reflections to lure indigenous peoples into catholic churches. The performer uses movement, different languages (Español, English, Kichwa), paint, and the physical stripping of her indigenous clothes to explore how she has been stripped of her culture. She is then left vulnerable, covered in white paint as symbolism of internalized colonization and indigenous erasure. When the performer realizes she has been following a reflection of her deity, she regains the power to decide whether she wants to finish her journey covered in whiteness -trying to become the colonizer’s reflections; or, to leave the imposed culture in search of her own image, with her mixed colors and languages.
As a practice of indigenisation while dissolving identity borders, the performer bravely uses all her languages. She gives Español and English the same amount of space in the piece, just as they exist within her. The use of Kichwa adds another layer of complexity: she reclaims her mestizaje and invokes her ancestral indigenous roots.
CREDITS:
Written and Performed: Salomé Egas
Dramaturgy: Kim Morales
Soundscape: Julián Velasco
SHOWINGS:
Greenwich Arts Council (2021), ChaShaMa (2021), Downtown Brooklyn (2021), The Immigrant Artist Biennial (2021), Exponential Festival 2020 at Para\\el, NYC (January, 2020)
As a practice of indigenisation while dissolving identity borders, the performer bravely uses all her languages. She gives Español and English the same amount of space in the piece, just as they exist within her. The use of Kichwa adds another layer of complexity: she reclaims her mestizaje and invokes her ancestral indigenous roots.
CREDITS:
Written and Performed: Salomé Egas
Dramaturgy: Kim Morales
Soundscape: Julián Velasco
SHOWINGS:
Greenwich Arts Council (2021), ChaShaMa (2021), Downtown Brooklyn (2021), The Immigrant Artist Biennial (2021), Exponential Festival 2020 at Para\\el, NYC (January, 2020)
past projects
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