Month: February 2015

Salsa Dancing at the local fiesta

 

Though my performance is based around Canarian day and the historical culture of the Islands, it is also important to bare in mind the islands cultures today. These islands always have something going on, one popular event is when the fiestas come to town; not only do we have fair rides, we have orchestras and performances by locals and guest artists or DJ’s, we have outdoor discos and ‘Fiesta Queen’ pageants. And though it may seem strange to someone coming from elsewhere it is completely normal for everyone to Salsa Dance at these events (Whether they do it well or not), young and old come out to dance, and often it is a Salsa or a Bachata or Merengue… These styles of dancing are very popular on the islands and though most people have not had training, everyone gives it a go.

 

Guanche artefacts, the first talismans that decorated homes or were worn; it is thought that the Guanches may have believed that each talisman had a magical property. The second, a cooking utensil preserved over thousands of years.

Often on Canarian day people will have the opportunity to recreate some of these artefacts to then take home, providing I can get the materials this opportunity will be offered in my solo piece.

 

 

Often on Canarian day, especially in schools, people will build miniature versions of the islands.

So after today’s session it has become very clear to me that I needed to reign in my Solo piece.

While researching this piece I came across Catalina Lercaro, an old story that I was told as a teenager on a school trip and had since forgotten about. My research re-awakened my curiosity for this story and as I researched it, I became almost obsessed  with telling Catalina’s story. As my piece began to form itself around this story; my original idea ( showing the audience the Canarian culture by re-creating Canarian day), no longer seemed to fit in. At this point, I reached a bit of an en pas; I did not want to completely discard my original idea, but I also had this desire to tell Catalina’s story that would not go away. The two ideas I was thinking of would not go hand in hand for the purposes of this piece, yet I found it incredibly difficult to make a decision between the two.

During today’s lesson we wrote down information on our audience, and who they are in relation to our characters. During this exercise, I decided that my audience are going to be a group of English “Tourists” visiting Tenerife. I chose to write a monologue aimed at these tourists.

While writing the afore mentioned monologue the idea came to me that I should stick to my original idea of showing them the Canarian culture through Canarian day. Though I am not discarding Catalina entirely, she will still be my main character and I will perform the piece as her. But I will not be telling her story, I will simply mention it so as to give the audience the opportunity to research her themselves.

My piece is now (hopefully) going to be a durational piece, during which I am going to be in traditional clothes, in the character of Catalina Lercaro. It is going to be an interactive piece (during which the audience can come and go as they please). There will be a series of activities to show the audience throughout the day, and to get them to take part in. All of these activities will be like the ones done on Canaraian day in Tenerife.

 

Legend has it that Catalina’s body, having been denied by the church for having taken her own life, is buried in the courtyard of the house. Some believe that her body is buried under the well where she took her life.