The CAMINOS 2021 Festival is a huge endeavor of works-in-process produced by Aluna Theatre taking place Oct. 12-24. CAMINOS 2021 is a multi-arts celebration of 32 works-in-process involving over 100 artists. These are on-line, in audio form or in person instillations.
Beatriz Pizano, the fearless Artistic Director of Aluna and this festival has said in the festival’s introduction, that many worlds and visions bridge cultural divides, connecting North and South America and elsewhere through the arts. Aluna theatre is joined with Native Earth and Factory Theatre to present this festival.
Because these are works in development or process, formal reviews are not really wanted. A reasonable request. But general comments are accepted.
The first week of works was a wonderful cross-section of creativity, invention and story-telling using various techniques and even an irreverent TikTok piece in which a wedding planner is planning a wild wedding.
I’ve already commented on works I saw in the first day: https://slotkinletter.com/2021/10/comment-on-the-caminos-2021-festival
What was particularly striking in the first week were the number of filmed/performed pieces that pushed borders of confinement and definition.
Some pieces made filming seem like ballet. La Mujer Fragmentada (a bilingual performance piece exploring state violence/forced migration in El Salvador). Lines of a long poem changed shape and sharpness as the camera angle changed. Watching the change was like watching an elegant ballet. That juxtaposed with the stark subject matter made a very effective piece of theatre/art/film.
Se Forman Grietas/Cracks Form: A poetic portrait of America Latina was a beautifully artful film of shots dissolving into and around each other.
Taos 2.0: The Art of Storytelling: An artistic offering. The beauty of the piece is that it takes storytelling in a different direction and makes us reimagine what we thought about storytelling.
The CAMINOS 2021 Festival provides a fascinating cross-section of ideas, stories, experiences and performance styles. I look forward to the others as they are revealed as on line for the most part. All the offerings on line are available for free until Oct. 31.