The Colombian-Canadian group Girovago will bring their show, BARKA to Bogotá from September 1 to 5. Expect effervescent music, dance, circus, and more…
Colombian-Canadian company Girovago doesn’t fit in any performative boxes. Though given their flair for circus, the group would probably jump out of – and perform on top of – any box we tried to put them into. With a mix of Afro-Colombian beats, Balkan tunes, circus and dance, BARKA’s audiences are in for a treat.
As a group, it’s Girovago’s first time in Colombia. But two of its members, Carmen Ruiz and Sebastián Mejía, are originally from Cali. Carmen took some time to talk to us before their trip. She said the group is excited about coming to Colombia and looking forward to sharing their art with as many people as possible.
“Me and Sebastián, we are both from Colombia,” she said. “We’ve been immigrants in Canada for over two decades and we have also travelled, sharing our dance and our music for many, many, many years. And that’s what inspired at first this creation.”
“When we started doing Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra, we were reflecting a lot about our nomadic way of life and how that changes and changed the communities that we visited,” says Ruiz. Those reflections sparked ideas around roots, nomadic ways, and mixing influences from all over the world. “We created Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra, which has always been an orchestra that mixes not just different music styles but also different art forms like dance and circus and theatrical staging. Performances that always bring in the participation of the audience.”
“We want to share our peace that brings joy and hope to this country that needs it so much,” she says. “And to learn from this experience, from the people, from their own paths in life.”
The themes of travel and staying afloat are central to BARKA’s evolution. “That’s how we imagined BARKA,” she explains. “A BARKA that is travelling and bringing people from all over – together in one space. And how, collectively, we can possibly make sure that we stay on top of the water and not under the water. And that we come together as people, regardless of the storms that we might face in our lives.”
Don’t miss Girovago’s BARKA in Bogotá:
- 1 September, 3pm in Teatro El Ensueño: Tickets are available from tuboleta at COP$38,850 or COP$49,950. Tv 70 D # 60 – 90 sur.
- 4 September, 7pm in Teatro Jorge Eliécer Gaitán: Free open-air performance. Carrera 7 No. 22 – 47.
- 5 September, 8.30pm in Galería Café Libro del Parque de la 93: Tickets are available from their website at COP$50.000. Carrera 11 A # 93 – 42
BARKA: Art in movement
The group will perform in several Bogotá venues between September 1 and 5. They’ll also run dance, music, and circus workshops in Ciudad Bolívar with the Teatro El Ensueño. The group wants to inspire social change through performing arts, and the workshops and shows are one way they can do that.
“In this trip particularly we are engaging with the circus community of Ciudad Bolívar. It’s a vibrant community that we are very much looking forward to meeting and to exchange with them our experience and our knowledge,” said Ruiz. She explained that one of IDARTES’ goals in making the invitation was to bring some of the expertise in circus arts that Montreal is known for to the Colombian capital.
The show will be an energetic spectacle that layers music upon dance upon circus performances. The group of 11 Canadian and Colombian artists have extensive experience in all three, and they’ll use their skills to take you on an extraordinary and possibly chaotic boat journey.
Workshops are not the only way Girovago hopes to inspire change. As Carmen puts it, “Our core mojo is art in movement.” The idea is that the shows themselves will build a sense of possibility, of community – because movement itself is a powerful force.
“We want to create art that makes people dance, first of all when they come to see our shows and in that way they experience movement and they experience joy. And they experience the beauty and the power of their own personal in-body experience,” Carmen tells me.
“When we are moving we are creating, we are making things differently, and that’s what we are hoping for,” she continues. “That we realise the challenges of our times, but that the challenge doesn’t paralyse us. On the contrary, it makes us keep this inspiration of moving towards new possibilities, to still creating and doing as we do a dance, with lightness, with joy, with open hearts and open bodies to live a better life together.”
There will still be time for arepas
The group will have a lot to fit in during their time in the Colombian capital. Even so, I was keen to know what Colombian food Carmen and Sebastián wanted to share with their crew. Carmen explained that Montreal is packed with culinary wonders from many cultures. Still, she says, “There is definitely something very different when you are tasting the food in the original place and tasting it charged with the experience of the surroundings.”
“So I’m looking forward to share arepas, empanadas, and just any food we can find in places, made by the people of Colombia,” she tells me. “And we are hoping to engage also with the people who are around us – sharing food and sharing the experience of being back in our country.”
Don’t miss the opportunity to see Girovago live when they are in Bogotá. You’ll need to buy tickets for the Teatro El Ensueño and Galería Café Libro shows, but the open-air performance at the Teatro Jorge Eliécer Gaitán is free.