TRANSLATION: TOUR OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE PEOPLE: NEW WORKS OF LA VENTOLERA

Here we publish a preliminary and unofficial translation of the text "GIRA HIJAS DEL PUEBLO: NUEVA OBRA DE LA VENTOLERA" by "El Pueblo" from Chile.

TOUR OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE PEOPLE: NEW WORKS BY LA VENTOLERA

Waiwén: Voices of the struggle in southern Chile

Tour "Daughters of the people": new work by La Ventolera

Kunst und Kultur, Ausgabe Nr. 90 der Zeitung El Pueblo (April 2020).

Von der Gruppe La Ventolera.



*On the front page: La Ventolera on a tour of the Chiguaigue school in Wallmapu, Bajo Malleco. Picture: Instagram @rodrigo_Asekas.

Making art to serve the people is the motto that we have brought to all the places where La Ventolera has been. And as a group, we wanted to promote a movement that is not only artistic, but also in the actions that we carry out: an art outside the theatres, museums, an art that is present on the streets, with the popular organisation, together with the workers, villagers and peasants who form the people who fight and resist

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This has led us to move in different places. Our wind, is a wind that moves and unites some organized population groups with land confiscations, in self-administered festivals or in support of the struggles of workers, women, teachers, students and also in the tireless struggle of the Mapuche for the reclaiming of land. Both Santiago and the south of Chile were our main audiences; in the corners of the big city or at the venues in the neighbourhood we were able to put art at the service of the people. For the people who fight.

Telling about the struggles of the people is our way of making art. Since the group was founded, we have tried to tell the people's fears, anger, worries and actions through dance, theatre and live music.

The people's own organization has helped us to ask ourselves what struggles we want to represent. Therefore we decided to examine women for our second piece, who are symbols of important struggles of their time and in which they stood out for their devotion and determination. Women figures who are not known - or not recognized - in official history, either because they were women, or because they were on the side of the poor, or because they did not adhere to the established canons for their time and society.

La Ventolera presents her new play "Daughters of the People". Picture: Instagram @rodrigo_Asekas.

In this joint investigation we came across four women: Juana Azurduy, Olga Benario, Teresa Flores and Aracely Romo. They are all symbols of different struggles in which the revolution stands out against the economic, political and social injustices of their time. And they also represent the struggles against the double oppression suffered by women: class and sex.

These four women, who have been living in different regions of Latin America since the 19th century, promoted the mobilisation of the people from different angles: the armed struggle, the press and workers' organisation and the anti-fascist struggle. And even before our struggles, these are movements that still have similar, if not the same slogans today.

With the experience of two previous tours, we knew what it means to organize a whole group, with all the technical, human and logistical equipment that this entails. At the beginning of 2019 we were already preparing. As our work is divided into independent works, which are already in Aracely Romo's pocket, we started working on Teresa Flores. At the same time we organized an anniversary party to celebrate and generate income for the tour.

Fortunately, everything went well: new members joined the group and successful performances were spread by word of mouth and social networks. Our new play and the way to a tour in the south of Chile were very close to us. A group of artists keeps itself alive not only through actions, but also in the bonds we were able to create and which made everything flow. In the second half of the year La Ventolera was back on the road.

The social uprising of October put us on the streets more than ever before. Our slogans and our art added to the demands of millions of people. We felt that the wind that we had wanted to blow for years was giving way to organization and art in the service of the people. With this troupe we set off for the south of Chile.



Image: Instagramm @rodrigo_Asekas.

The new play "Daughters of the People" was ready to be performed in its entirety. Three works by three Latin American women fighters: Juana Azurduy, a Creole from the independence movement of Upper Peru during the colonial period, who organized and mobilized women's militias against the Spanish yoke; Teresa Flores, the little comrade, symbol of the workers' struggle in the saltpetre industry and instigator of the "kitchen strike" and the feminist press; and Aracely Romo, a young fighter of the MIR, fighter from the underground during the years of the fascist military junta. All this accompanied by songs of Latin American music and collaboration with popular artists who follow and have believed in our project, as in the case of Sol Domínguez (Sol y Medianoche/Sol y Haín) and Daniela Meza (Las Pecadoras/La Pingarita).

From a sackcloth - a gift from a member of the group - the faces of these women observed a rural school in Chiguaigüe in Bajo Malleco, a neighborhood court in Angol, the Plaza de Armas in Collipulli, La Cajonera in Puerto Montt, the train station and the town of Loma 6 in Puerto Varas. Wherever the affection and love of the people has been the motor of the presentations, unconditional dedication to help us bring art to the people who belong and to whom we belong.

And it was not only the reception, but also the reactions during and after the show. Smiles, hugs, tears and cathartic rage were the protagonists. From the sackcloth to the wind of organization, the women felt connected to the people; and the people felt connected to the women and the struggles that continue to this day.

The exchange with the people was fundamental. The lunches, the shelters they offered us; the moments of rest and the talks about the feminist struggle; the opportunity to put art at the service of the people, which we have been doing for years and which we hope we will continue to do. We returned to Santiago with a heart full of love and strength. We returned with the favor of the south wind, the Mapuche Waiwéns, to continue to blow in the organization of the people, to the sound of our battle cry: "Where is the gust of wind? In popular art!