Video by Craig Johnson
The Phoenix Hostel and Cultural Center held their multi-performance event “Dos Verdades” (“Two Truths”) on Thursday for the second night in a row.
The show was put on by the Border/Arte collective and served as a gesture toward the importance of binational and bilingual artistic collaboration. The event reimagined the relationship between the United States and Mexico.
“Dos Verdades Se Encuentran” featured music, dance, poetry and visual representations of the political, personal and social issues that surround the relationship between the two countries and the border that separates them.
Puja Goel, who is from India and is currently staying at the hostel, said that she watched performers practice the show and the message of the peace resonated with her. Before seeing the show, she felt a separation between countries and that people from the U.S. thought badly about those from other countries. That feeling changed after the performance.
“The differences are created because of the politics across the border,” Goel said. “Words are different, people are same.”
The creators of the show took surveys of the varying definitions that people have of the words “home,” “security” and “identity,” and used those answers to make up the themes of the show. The performances were spread throughout the hostel, and audience members physically migrated through the space as an immersion into the message. Attendees would often hear information in Spanish.
Pieces included dance performances, videos of subjects discussing their feelings on safety, a satirical performance about the process of getting a visa and a discussion with the artists at the end of the evening — both in person and via Skype with two artists currently in Mexico.
Kate Saunders, one of the creators of “Dos Verdades,” performed numerous dance and theater pieces throughout the night.
Saunders moved to Mexico City for eight months because she wanted to learn from artists there. During her time in Mexico, she was given a grant for foreigners to create a project in the city. That process sparked the creation of the show.
Saunders said that it was a critical time after the 43 students were kidnapped from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teacher’s College and killed. Seeing the protests both in Mexico and in Ferguson, Missouri, in the U.S. impacted her.
“We’re always in critical times historically … Seeing that all of the atrocities were happening in the name of security, in the name of protecting us,” Saunders said. “And when I say ‘us,’ that becomes obvious of who it’s protecting and who it’s not, and who it is actually against, actively.”
Saunders drew inspiration from the Black Lives Matter movement and used her medium of dance and poetry to convey her own message.
“I want to talk about these things, but I can’t just talk about that alone.” Saunders said. “I can’t do that and represent this topic alone, and so I asked people to participate with me and to build it with me.”
Musician Musa Mind participated in the show. She asked the artists to send poems as inspiration for her music for the show and received responses covering topics ranging from the beauty of the desert to police brutality on the border.
“How am I going to make a sound that feels?” Mind said. “The song can’t be too happy and the song cannot be too sad.”
The artists said that the performance is a work in progress and that they love to hear feedback from the audience.
“There is a lot of critical things about the piece; if you care to share more feedback or continue that or follow us on the project,” Saunders said.
For more information on upcoming shows that Border/Arte is holding, visit www.borderarte.com or their Facebook page.
Contact the reporter at hope.flores@outlook.com.
