Wednesday, December 13, 2006

RURAL COMMUNITY SHOW

Our main contact in Las Margaritas takes us to a community 45 min outside of town where she teaches human rights workshops. When we arrive, they start anouncing over the big community megaphone that we are going to do our show in 15 minutes. Children, youth, and adults start gathering close to the community center, but they are shy, and they don't know how to make an audience. They are not experienced performance watchers. They don't understand that we are trying to get them all together and they keep running away from us when we start to get close.

So we take it slow. Improving. Me with my small accordeon which I am slowly getting halfway maybe okay at playing.
They get used to us.
And finally,
they gather.
But the children stay clumped on one side,
the youth on the other,
and the adults behind us.

It is a magic little show, in the middle of the countryside, with shy and adorable laughter.
We are truly strange clown creatures that have appeared out of nowhere and they watch us intently.
It is the last show of the tour and feels extra special to me.
As the show unfolds the audience opens up.
When it is over we depart stepping in time together with the accordeon,
the youth go "ooooh-h-h"
they don't want us to leave.
we stop, look at them, look at each other,
start walking again.
"ooooh-h-h"
stop.
start again
"oooooh-h-h." again.
stop.
start.
"oooh-h-h ooh-h-h oooh-h-h."
It becomes a game.

They ask us to do the performance again a second time.

We have a 3 hour drive and it is already getting dark. We are wiped. So we leave with them wanting quite a lot more. But it is a great ending to a lovely tour.

No comments: