movement, dance, and rituals linked to nature and indigenous culture. This exchange is part of a collaborative and multidisciplinary performance led by three Honduran artists: Diana Lara, Isadora Paz Taboada (move- ment artists), and Gabriel Vallecil- lo-Marquez (video artist). The project is being developed in Honduras and San Francisco and is part of the Edge residency at CounterPulse, which will premiere in June 2024. We were fortunate to work in col- laboration with the organization Murilpaz, Indigenous Lenca Women Association from La Paz. On the first day of the meeting, the participants opened the event by performing the “compostura.” The compostura is one of the original ceremonies that are configured as a dance-rite and trib- ute to Mother Earth. For centuries, the Lenca people have interpreted this ceremony to mark the moments of the planting and harvesting cycle. In the representation, the participants set up an altar and recreate a series of
acts and consecration movements for abundance, anticipating the arrival of the rainy season. The ritual, as inter- preted through the lens of the Muril- paz organization, expands much more, as its leader Donatila shares, “We ask that the land be distrib- uted equitably, we ask that the lands belong to women.” Each woman brought an element that is part of the altar, such as copal, colored candles, vegetables, fruits, and flowers. The candles were placed marking the cardinal points: white towards the north, which signifies purity; yellow towards the south, which signifies fertility, seed, and reproduction of women and nature; red towards the east, which signi- fies the blood of martyrs, the people who have resisted and been killed; and black or purple towards the west, which represents the ancestors, those who have already departed. In the center of the compostura, a green candle representing nature and a blue one representing the sky were placed.
The first day of the workshop coin- cided with the celebration of Inter- national Women’s Day, March 8th. In Honduras, there is a tradition of celebrating Women’s Day with events in communities at the local and national levels. It was then very sig- nificant that this exchange of body awareness, somatic movement, and rituals in nature took place specifi- cally on this date. On the second day of the meet- ing, we continued our exploration of movement and rituals at a specific site chosen by Murilpaz to allow contact with nature. “The island” is located an hour from Marcala by unpaved road. It is a small area of land through which a river passes, forming a water pool and a waterfall. In this place, we remembered the movements generated the previous day in this new landscape, incorporating the element of water and the guacales. Guacales are oval-shaped vessels of pre-Colum- bian origin made from a tree called jicara. They are used in Honduras
What am I? It’s the memory of the space that existed, inside and outside of me. What is that space? It’s my grandmother’s house, the yuyuba tree in the garden, the layer of cells that originated my heart, my grandmother’s chest that cradled me as a child, or my own chest. The memory of the space moves me, as if it were a consequence of my desire to inhabit that space again, to expand there, to explore every fold, every corner, and every texture.
Who we are is essentially linked to the space in which we grew up and all the memories we have about those spaces. When we talk about the space where we grew up, we include the space of the maternal womb, the spatial configuration of embryological development, the coordinated and precise movement of cells that originates human tissues and systems.
Thus, as Honduran artists we decided to undertake the task to explore the geographical spaces inhabited by our indigenous Lenca ancestors. The Lencas are a Meso- american group that occupies part of the territory of Honduras and El Salvador. Currently, there are around half a million Lencas who preserve their culture, gastronomy, clothing, agriculture, dances, and
rituals. The Lenca indigenous move- ment is now internationally recog- nized for their struggles in defense of rivers and forests. In March 2024, we held a move- ment exchange meeting with indige- nous Lenca women in the department of La Paz, Honduras. Environmen- tal leaders, farm workers and arti- san women from eight communi- ties in the area gathered to exchange
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