Chiapas January 2004

Rudi Galindo, solo.

JANUARY 2004
I am here once again in this dream place called Chiapas, standing in the middle of the
road with my clown suitcase. If I squint my eyes I can pretend that the military campground
and its soldiers with their shiny black automatic rifles are not really there. That the furrowed
brows of the indigenous men as they look over their shoulders is just what happens when you look into the sun light.
As I open my suitcase all eyes are upon me. Small children with bare feet and dirty faces,
the Traditionalistas dressed in their red, black and white traditional clothing, a group of women
all standing together giggling behind their colorful embroidered shawls, the PRIstas with
their new cowboy boots and white starched hats, and of course the young soldiers with their
rifles pointed downward. A very diverse group of people divided by political, patriarchal and social ideologies.
I begin my show by acting like a chicken. The children are the first to laugh, the first to
drop their guarded attitudes and tough exteriors and open up like an exotic plant that just
needs some water. After ten minutes this circle of divided peoples has become a blur of
laughing faces. For a brief moment they have forgotten to be bitter enemies and factional
rivals. Instead they are friends, neighbors and relatives. A community all sharing in an
afternoon of juggling chickens, disappearing scarves and rubber noses.

1/2/04 San Andreas Larrainzar Performance/ 150 people
1/3/04 San Juan Chamula Performance/ 500 people
1/4/04 San Andreas Larrainzar Performance/Workshop/300 people
1/5/04 Colonia Paraiso Performance/250 people
1/6/04 Colonia Pozo Jacob Performance/75 people
1/7/04 San Jose Buenavista Performance/200 people
1/8/04 Colonia Los Angeles Performance/75 people
1/12/04 Meporsur Performance/200
1/13/04 Emiliano Zapata Performance/200
1/14/04 Zinacantan Performance/250
1/15/04 Altos De Maria Auxiladora Performance/300
1/16/04 El Cerillo Performance/200

Reports

March 2005