The ancient proud people celebrated the New Year in Moscow in the summer

With an hour-long performance “Malene” by the Chilean Dance Company Ricardo Curacheo, the Chekhov Festival completed the first summer series of its program, in which eight performances were shown. Now Chekhov Fest will take a short break. The “Second Series”, which will feature seven more performances (four of them dance performances), will take place in September-October.

Malen is the first part of a trilogy by the Chilean choreographer and director Ricardo Curaceo Rivera. It was this performance, which received the award of the Chilean Art Critics Circle as the best dance production, that made him one of the country’s most famous choreographers.

The second part of the Kurakeo trilogy is called “Weychafe” (“Warrior”), and the third “Death” or “Molfun – the territory of water and death” – excerpts from this final part of the trilogy were shown on Chekhovsky’s street program.

So, Malene… There are 15 girls and women of different ages on the darkened stage…. When the work was created, the youngest was 9 years old, and the eldest was 80 years old. Unfortunately, the oldest actress could not come to participate in Moscow due to health problems.

Women wear silver jewelry, patterned belts, black dresses. All of them are representatives of the ancient warlike people of the Mapuche.

From the MK dossier: Mapuche or Araucanians literally means “People of the Earth” They are an indigenous Indian people in Chile and Argentina. According to various estimates, the number is up to 1.5 million people. They speak an isolated Araucan language; most speak Spanish. The Mapuche are the only indigenous people in South America that were not conquered by either the Incas or the Spaniards. The Mapuche tribes offered fierce resistance to the conquerors.

The Mapuche culture is, first of all, a communal holiday with prayers to the supreme thunder god Pilyan (ngilyatun), the construction of a new house (rukatun), initiations, healing rites, etc. are accompanied by singing, dancing, recitation …

The traditional ritual of the Mapuche people, carefully and delicately combined with elements of modern dance, is the play “Malene”. In his work, Ricardo Curacheo Rivera connects the theatrical exploration of modern dance with the worldview of the Mapuche people. In fact, we have before us a work of modern dance, but at the same time it is a kind of reconstruction, an attempt to revive the life and culture of the Mapuche.

Before the performance, in order to warm up the vocal cords, the artists perform special vocal exercises. Not only dances, but also chants during movements are an essential part of the Mapuche tradition and an important meaning-forming part of the play “Malene”:

“I am my body, I am water, red veins on dark skin, purple veins on white and yellow. My eyes are a reflection of yours. I am the work, I am the vibration of your sound. I am boundless, like this fertile land. I am different, I am hard bone. I am my ancestors, I am my mother. I am the hand on your forehead and the herb that heals you. I am hands with rough skin, I am the trill of a red-breasted bird and a morning song, I am a sister, a daughter, a mother, a woman. I am the one who lives here, I am Florencia Javiera Neira Oros. I am 15 years old. I’m Mapuche,” the women sing, and their movements are indeed somewhat reminiscent of the movements of birds and animals.

Two dancers are at the black backdrop in the center of the stage. They are spotlighted, naked to the waist and standing with their backs to the audience. To their right, musical instruments are laid out, and five dancers sit at a distance. Directly in front of them, at the left side stage, four more dancers also settled down, bending their knees …

Dancers with a bare back and chest come to the fore and are the first to start ritual dances, in which the rest of the participants are gradually involved. Dances are accompanied by chants…

Of the traditional musical instruments of the Mapuche, the main place belongs to the kultruna – this is a ceremonial drum in their culture. In addition to it, bells, rattles, bells on the hand are used – cascavilla. At the mouth of the dancers – trompe – a kind of harp, a special musical instrument in the form of a tongue freely oscillating in the opening of the frame, set in motion by a finger or by pulling a thread. Dancers follow each other and with the help of this instrument make characteristic sounds.

What is small? Translated from the Mapuche language – girl …. The word refers to young girls who begin to learn, adopt the knowledge of their ancestors from older women.

– The whole work is built around my sister Ayelen, she is the main and main source of my inspiration. Thus was born a real trilogy – the body and memory of the Mapuche – the choreographer Ricardo Curacheo tells me. – For me, as a representative of my people, it is very important to understand that a woman is the main guardian of culture. Through women who have played an important role in my life and who have always surrounded me, I learned dance, rhythm, and learned how to adorn myself. When I first saw my sister dance, I was just really amazed. Then I realized what I should do. Unfortunately, the Mapuche people at one time were persecuted, were deprived of many rights, so my mission is to restore justice and show the role of a woman, and remind the Mapuche tribe. This is my life experience and the easiest way to say – we are, we live – the choreographer continues his story.

The performance “Malene” is dedicated to the transfer of knowledge that women share with each other, demonstrating the dance dialogue of generations. That is why not all participants are professional dancers. They are representatives of completely different professions – weavers, there are students, and even professors.

I met them under completely different circumstances. And I must say that not all of them were familiar with each other initially. My mission was to gather them, to help them meet, so that each of them could share with the other the knowledge that they possess. That’s about this “Malene” – Ricardo Curakeo explains his plan.

Coincidentally, the tour of the Chilean dance company fell on the onset of the New Year of the Mapuche people – the sacred holiday of Ve-Tripantu. It is on these days that the new life cycle of Mother Earth begins, signaling the beginning of new life and rebirth. And it is about the new life and the revival of the culture of the indigenous people of the Mapuche that the artists of the Chilean group dance and sing in the play “Malen”.