Malen

Ayelen Curaqueo Curiche is a 9-year-old girl. She is the youngest of the cast of 16 Mapuche women who give life to Malen, a contemporary dance premiere that reinterprets the Mapuche worldview.

Malenmeans girl or young woman in Mapuzugun. “Malen is an invitation to think of a Mapuche present as a reality, it is to open the possibilities of commonality and difference, of prejudice and idealism, of encounter and distance in the body: Malen is to think about dance in Mapuche,” says dancer Ricardo Curaqueo (The obstinate night, Apologia del desire).  His debut in the direction and creation of this work earned him the Best Dance Work Award from the 2017 Critics' Circle.

The work is an exploration of what it means to be Mapuche, to think, feel and move as such. Look for testimonies of the marginality that being Mapuche implies in the bodies of a cast made up of women who share an origin, but have different ages, ranging from childhood to old age; and different occupations, some students, others actresses, dancers, weavers and teachers.

The sound and aesthetic of Malenare inspired by traditional elements, such as black and silver costumes, or the playing of instruments such as the kultrun and the trompe.

Director: Ricardo Curaqueo Curiche

Assistant director and playwright: Karen Carreño Rivera | Rehearsal assistant: Catalina Fernández Amado | Art direction: Deysi Cruz Vásquez | Sound design: Joaquín Montecinos Ortiz | Lighting design: Francisco Herrera | Performers: Ayelen Curaqueo Curiche, Florencia Neira Oros, Agata Espinoza Fontana, María Paz Silva Romero, Rallen Montenegro Aguilera, Nathalie Moris Caniulef, Danitza Segura Licanqueo, Catalina Fernández Amado, Constanza Díaz Alfaro, Karina Díaz Osorio, Yasmín Millan Castro, Sonia Orobia Retamales, Millaray Ruiz Conejeros, Loreto Millalén Iturriaga, Norma Hueche Nahuel and Elsa Quinchaleo.
Costume design and construction: Deysi Cruz Vásquez and Marianela Vásquez Medina. 
Photography: Felipe Gamboa and Patricio Melo

THIS WORK IS PRESENTED AT GAM IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE XXVI EDITION OF THE SANTIAGO A MIL FESTIVAL 2019 

PREVIOUS SEASONS

The work premiered at GAM in October 2017 with a successful season and had performances within the framework of the Escena Uno Festival between March 8 and 18, 2018.