Weavers from La Ligua Inspire Contemporary Circus Show Highlighting Memory and Women’s Resilience

The schedule kicks off on January 15 and 16 at the Pre-Columbian Art Museum (7:00 PM); January 22 and 23 at the Museum of Memory during the Santiago Off Festival (7:30 PM); January 28 at the Cultural Park of Valparaíso (7:00 PM); and ends the month on January 31 at the Museo de La Ligua AQT (12:00 PM).

Juliana da Silva Martins, the director and performer of the work, stated that «these spaces of memory were chosen for their ability to preserve, activate, and convey collective stories. In them, the performance engages with the territory, communities, and the living archives of textile tradition, making the theatrical experience an act of restitution, intergenerational meeting, and reflection on cultural heritage and its current challenges.»

The Weaving Ritual

Through an innovative staging, the production evokes the act of weaving as a metaphor for life, valuing textile art and the testimonies of local weavers by connecting their stories to contemporary artistic language.

On a majestic multi-strand loom, the performers explore the fabric of collective history and propose a journey from the beginning of creation to inner transformational pathways, inviting the audience to recognize themselves in textiles as a language, memory, and a political gesture of resistance amid today’s tumultuous world.

Juliana da Silva Martins, who lived in La Ligua from 2011 to 2021, conducted research with the members of the La Ligua Spinners Cooperative and the Pulmahue Spinners group in 2022. She explains, «Fieldwork was essential as it revealed that the generational transfer of weaving is currently fading and how collaboration networks among weavers keep the textile tradition alive.»

Moreover, this creation presents a heroine’s journey, as it addresses an internal, emotional process of self-discovery, contrasting with the traditional hero’s journey, which emphasizes external actions and achieving goals outside oneself.

Popular Tradition

Regarding contemporary circus, the discipline framing this production, Juliana da Silva Martins notes that «it is characterized by incorporating various stage languages, thus blending physical theater, circus, dance, and music in this staging.»

«We aim to captivate the audience with a narrative style that is close and symbolic, which is why the set design features a colossal loom from which many ropes hang, symbolizing the weave of the loom,» added the director.

The artistic and technical team of «Women Who Weave in the Air» includes, alongside Juliana da Silva (director and performer), Daniela Schuster (assistant director and performer), Katherine King (producer), Carlos Canales (musician and composer), Carolina Cornejo (costume designer), Karina San Martín (object designer), Felipe Ramos (set designer and builder), Jorge Espinoza (lighting designer), Boris Cisternas (graphic designer), and Claudio Martínez (photography and audiovisual recording), with stage guidance by Ingrid Flores Moncada.