Tag: Creative Arts

The Power of Sharing

Jimena Cascante-Matamoros, TCCS ’19

Last April, I had one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.

It all started when my Lesbian and Bisexual organisation called Colectiva IrreversibLes decided to start hosting poetry nights for women, this was several years ago. After a while we realized how few spaces we had in Costa

Paritcipants in a theater workshop hold and interact with chairs in non-traditional ways
Participants in a workshop organized by the author. (Photo credit: Virginia Paguaga López.)

Rica to share our poetry, so I decided to organize a spoken word poetry workshop for women. As a result of that workshop we started a spoken word group, Poesía Irreverente. After being together for a year some of us decided to separate from the group, and we felt the need to organize and, this time, also facilitate ourselves (my wife and I), a second spoken word poetry workshop this time only for Lesbian, Bisexual women and Non-binary people.

As a result of this second workshop, “Las Les-bi-anas hablamos,” we ended up forming another spoken word poetry group, Voces Fieras. With this group, we wanted to explore beyond spoken word and we wanted to share this experience with others. We decided to take upon a bigger project, to connect with other Lesbian and Bisexual Women and Non-binary people. So we started to connect with people we knew to decide on ideas, dates, possible venues and how to find funding.

A few months later we decided to put on this event during Holy Week in a dance studio in Masaya, Nicaragua We would finance the event ourselves to have complete autonomy. We decided collectively we wanted a space to

Silhouettes of two people, one person standing on a chair, the other person with a chair over their head
Participants in an exploratory movement-based workshop. (Photo credit: Virginia Paguaga López.)

exchange knowledge in artistic forms. We launched a call for submissions asking for a small symbolic fee to pay for the venue where we were also going to sleep and for the food. It was a very experimental event and a lot depended on the people signing up.

A few months later we decided to put on this event during Holy Week in a dance studio in Masaya, Nicaragua We would finance the event ourselves to have complete autonomy. We decided collectively we wanted a space to exchange knowledge in artistic forms. We launched a call for submissions asking for a small symbolic fee to pay for the venue where we were also going to sleep and for the food. It was a very experimental event and a lot depended on the people signing up.

We also performed and organised fundraising events in Costa Rica to help pay for the bus fees and some of the lodging. In the end, we gathered 6 women from Costa Rica and 6 from Nicaragua to get together for 4 days and exchange workshops including clowning, contact dance, Playback Theater, Theater of the Oppressed, writing in couples and spoken word poetry – all while taking turns cooking, cleaning and always maintaining a safe and respectful space for all.

These four days of exchanging art, experiences, love, food and knowledge left us with our hearts full and a wanting for more.

We are working on other exchanges with other Central American women in the years to come where we can keep learning from each other while creating our own spaces, where we can keep creating and exploring our art and connecting with others with whom we share so much yet know so little about.

A group of people in a studio with their arms intertwined
Participants in an embodied theater workshop. (Photo credit: Virginia Paguaga López.)

***

This video is a small recollection of what those 4 days were about. It was created by Nicaraguan filmmaker Virginia Paguaga López. The subtitles were added by Costa Rican artist Angélica Azofeifa.