Our Footsteps Collective and AstaroTheatro
At the moment Our Footsteps Collective is an on-going project, a work in progress constantly reshaping itself to the artistic and social challenges of our times. Our Footsteps works now closely with AstaroTheatro at several projects in the endless exploration of Resistance Through Art. These include Think of Others, A La Muntagna and several Workshops.
Footsteps against racism
We are currently working at creating a new theatre performance for Week tegen Racisme 2021. We keep creating theatre contents waiting for the moment when we will be able to perform again in venues inside and outside the Netherlands. We are fully aware that theatre is the art of total physical presence with an emancipatory power for both the artists and the audience.
Footsteps against racism @ Week tegen racisme
We are proud and happy that we could participate in this event, though we all know that to be anti-racism should be daily practice.
In these pandemic times every rehearsal has been a challenge. We stand for a theatre of total physical presence with an emancipatory power for both the artists and the audience. But now this presence is constantly facing all the limitations imposed by the virus. Distancing, impossibility of physical interaction, static positions, an upside-down dramaturgy, no synergy with the audience…
When Pakhuis de Zwijger asked us to perform for Week tegen racisme, our first thought went to the relevance of the whole event.
In 2020 we were supposed to perform ‘live’ the full one hour of Our Footsteps theatre performance. The whole event was cancelled just a few days in advance because of the start of the measures against the pandemic in the Netherlands.
Now, one year later and still in the midst of the same pandemic, we were expected to perform via video livestream in front of cameras and microphones…to put a medium on top of a medium, to deny the theatre of presence we strongly believe in.
Well, we did it, we created Footsteps against racism. Our presence during Week tegen racisme was more important than any other consideration. Thank you so much Pakhuis de Zwijger for organizing all the talks, films, workshops and artistic contributions that are part of the program of Week tegen racisme. And thank you for having us in this program.
(pictures by Melanja Palitta | Balans LaB)
Our Footsteps
A Theatre Performance
Migrants’ narratives as an artistic affirmation of our human dignity and a call for political awareness
A project by AstaroTheatro, IIRE and Stichting Vrolijkheid
With the support of Academie voor Theater en Dans
More than 20 migrants/refugees artists or performers in 10 languages. The result of 5 months of playful improvisational rehearsals, where through self-representation, migrants share stories of their journey and living in the Netherlands facing a long-lasting uncertainty after having crossed many, colonial, borders.
So far Our Footsteps has been successfully performed 10 times in Theater Perdu, in Academie voor Theater en Dans, in Ru Paré, in Podium Mozaïek, in Studio/K in Amsterdam, in Museum for Antiquities Leiden and in other locations. All dates were sold out as a confirmation of the urgency of this kind of theatre.
We believe the arts need to engage society; they need to represent today’s turmoil. Moreover, we acknowledge the cathartic function of the arts, and we are aware of the arts’ potential as a means of raising awareness. Words, sounds, images need to transcend the fixity of our every day and provoke the audience into rising above the level of the given to that of the possible. Through this process, the uselessness of borders is made evident, giving way to the human necessity found in peaceful coexistence.
To this end we come together as migrants, political refugees and locals in order to create a performance: an act of theatre, poetry, music, performance art, choreography. And an act of activism, of human and political togetherness. Although most of the participants are not professional artists, their performance attains the level of full artistic dignity. It’s time to stop seeing the migrant as ‘problematic’ or ‘troublesome.’ It’s time to go beyond the politics of social segregation as a mass distraction.
Our performance seeks to transcend the political pitfalls of discrimination and hate peculiar to our present and confused world. We want our performance to be a safe haven, a place where diversity is richness and discrimination can only vanish.
Testimonials:
Maria Mavridou (dancer, choreographer): “You were all wonderful!! Very touched to be there”
Tenedle Dimitri Niccolai (composer, musician): “What a beautiful performance, rhythm, and emotions in perfect harmony, excellent choreography and acting for a very strong important message”
Herman Pieterson: “It was amazing. Great performance, beautiful scenes just using patterns of movements by the whole cast”
Performers:
Amin Pazhavand, Arif Murat Gür, Ayhan Karaağaç, Ayşenur Akın, Demet Temel, Elif İleriye Girgin, Erhan Çalıhan, Ersin Adıgül, Farzin Bapiri, Harun Turan, Hüseyin Aykan, Iris Maria Tsagri, İsmail Atalamış, Karin Schuitema, Levent Girgin, Maral Jefroudi, Mhmod Pozan, Roberto Bacchilega, Rüzgar Gür, Savalan Ghodsi, Sayat Tekir, Sedat Kartal, Sila Kaymak, Souloke Sen, Ufuk Çalımlı, Vasiliki Koutrouli, Yusuf Adam Suali, Zeki Barlin
Directed by Roberto Bacchilega in collaboration with the performers
Theatre Training: Vasiliki Koutrouli
Dramaturgy: Arif Murat Gür
Stage Movement: Ayhan Karaağaç
Project Facilitator: Maral Jefroudi
Sound Design: Levent Girgin
Production Assistant and Videoproduction: Chihiro Geuzenbroek
Promotion and Stage Photography: Unai Risueño
Graphics: Savalan Ghodsi
Many Thanks to: Tenedle (video and photography), Victor Sams (rhythm and sound training), Masood Banozadeh (video teaser and documentation) and an endless number of friends, comrades and supporters who have been inspiring us during the journey to our theatre performance
Contact: AstaroTheatro. Sint Jansstraat 37 Amsterdam.
www.astarotheatro.com. Tel. 06 25382491. Email: info@ourfootsteps.nl
Contact: AstaroTheatro. Sint Jansstraat 37 Amsterdam.
www.astarotheatro.com. Tel. 06 25382491. Email: info@ourfootsteps.nl