Words by Paula Catalina Riofrio.
The first sound I hear was a familiar one; the collective indignation of a community raising their voices and stomping their feet to wake each other up in spirit. Uproar, an ever-evolving performance, workshop and installation initiated by Moyra Silva & Carolina Rieckhof took place at the research studio in Siobhan Davies Studios on the 30th of November.
The studio was divided in two, marked by a division line. On each end side of the line there was a lamp. One of them was operated by Rieckhof, the other one by Juliana Torres Ruiz, lighting designer and collaborator. Shakers made of Lima beans, or pallares, and black textiles were waiting on each seat for the audience to interact with.
The performance began with footage from the civil protests in Peru that took place during December 2022 and March 2023. Silva dug at the printed faces of the perished protesters from a black cloth laying on the ground, as images were projected with subtitles in English and Spanish. The air turned solemn, the silence of the action on stage contrasted the sounds of rioting coming from the projection. I couldn’t avoid thinking: Is a protest to be performed or enacted? Does it need to be there, flesh and bone, collectively, in front of the oppressor? Is a different context a different intention? Rieckhof and Silva placed a rag doll at the skirt of a golden mountain, that had been diagonally placed on stage from the beginning.
The second act
The projection stopped, giving space and voice to new characters. One of them entered dressed as Dina Boluarte, an ominous representative of the Peruvian political life. The other one proceeded satirically on tiptoes wearing a devil mask. A colourful and playful atmosphere intertwined performers and audience together. Silva, wearing Boluarte’s piñata-mask, suddenly took it off; Rieckhof incited the attendees to break it with a stick.
Memories and associations plagued my mind. The values that underline opinions and perceptions reside at deep levels of the conscious and unconscious mind. I wondered about the experiences of those in the audience who have not experienced carnivals or birthday celebrations in the rather southern regions of the Americas. I recognise the different contexts; I felt the hybridisation of cultures and practices.
Sikuris, the Mochica Culture and Taki Ongoy*: these were inspirational elements for both the dance and the custom. In fact, the performances were built through a discussion and dialogue about cultural appropriation. During the last scene, Silva performed an hybridisation of sikuri dance and an interpretation of the dances enacted by the Taki Ongoy movement. I must recognise that my limited knowledge of the Inca Culture and the space given for a review do not allow me to convey all the information needed to understand the depts of the terms Wacas, Apus, and Taki Ongoy – elements symbolically present in the performance. You may find these terms written differently, as all of them come from spoken Kichua, and it is only through reports written in Spanish, and spoken word in Andean communities, that we know of them now.
The last scene
Silva accelerated her body to represent the rites of purifications performed by the Taki Ongoy movement. Later she gave an ending to the performance by singing a beautiful song of resistance that resonated with many people. The Lima beans on her costume shook on her body and in the hands of the attendees of those who held pallares. It felt as if all the hearts present in the room synchronised. Rieckhof and Silva succeeded in turning cultural appropriation into a performative collage that would connect people from all over the world with the Andes.
Uproar is indeed a new format for performance and cultural research. It made me curious about Andean cosmogony and phenomenology, and the more I know about it the more I want to listen to the sound of nature and the nature I am; yet a discomfort stayed within me. Experiencing a performance of protests and Andean rituals out of their original context doesn’t allow me to fully engage with its significance nor its sense…
Caerá en la tierra
Una lluvia sin fin
Un gran diluvio
Que apague el dolor, oh! oh!
De tanta muerte y desolación
Y fertilice nuestra rebellion
Mercedes Sosa, Taki Ongoy
* Sikuris: comes from the instrument Sikuri. This denomination is used for people close to the practices playing a sikuri instrument and dancing to sikuri music. Mochica Culture: pre-Hispanic culture based in between the north of Peru and the south of Ecuador. Taki Onqoy: academics still debate about the role of Taki Onqoy in the Inca resistance period. One way of describing them is as Incan priests during the last years of the Incan Empire.