I wondered about the possibility of organising a Magdalena festival here in Munich, whether there might be a need and desire for such a thing. But how to find out, when I'm a foreigner who doesn't speak the language very well and my networks within the local theatre and arts communities are limited?
The workshops had already had their first session on Tuesday morning before the official opening, attended by many local journalists and featuring a welcome from festival director Amarantha Osario and an improvisation by the festival artists. This was followed by the traditional opening round (pictured below) where artists and participants from Albania to Japan as well as the Spanish-speaking world introduced themselves.
At Transit VII, I was asked to speak in the symposium as part of a sesion entitled "Giving Form: Art between Fiction and Reality". I found it very difficult to prepare for this presentation - unsure of what I could say on the topic that would be interesting or useful to the audience, wondering if I really know the difference between fiction and reality, even problematising the words "giving" and "form".
Loud stomping resounds from the theatre: the participants of Maria Porter and Raquel Carrio's workshop are giving a demonstration and this is the Suzuki part. I am missing it, to wash some clothes and write this post - it's not possible to see and do everything at Transit, we have to miss some things when the programme packs 5 performances and several presentations into each day. We don't come to Transit to sleep, that's for sure - but we do have to wash our clothes and sometimes take a pause to try and digest everything before we can take more in.
I am in Providence, Rhode Island, for BIARI - Brown International Advanced Research Institute. This is a gathering of about 140 researchers and thinkers, brought together for two weeks of presentations and discussions in four streams: climate change, health and HIV, population and development, and theatre and civil society. I'm in this last group, convened by Erik Ehn and Patricia Ybarra, with 24 participants hailing from nearly every corner of the globe.
I am in Pondicherry, India for the Tantidhatri festival - the first Magdalena festival in India, organised by Parvathy Baul (with an incredible army of volunteers). The festival has finished & I'm indulging in a week of holiday here - although "holiday" also means clearing my email backlog and dealing with lots of photos taken by myself and others during the festival; you can see the growing gallery of images here.
We are nearing the end of the Tantidhatri Festival already, and I haven't had time to post anything - I've been full of good intentions but like most Magdalena festivals, the schedule of overlapping performances, transport logistics, catching up with people and preparing for my performance hasn't left much time for anything else except sleeping; also it's so hot here that it's necessary to shower 2-3 times a day & wash everything I've been wearing as well.
