The municipality of Cavalcante (GO), one of the most sought after destinations in Chapada dos Veadeiros, will host the 2nd Afro Cena Theater Show. The attractions, which run until Sunday (12), are free and include theater shows, conversation circles, dance performances and workshops.
Held by the NGO Theater, Education and Responsibility with Afro-Brazilian Roots (TERRA), the event gives the local community the opportunity to get in touch with these artistic expressions, as the closest cinema and theater to Cavalcante are in Brasília, 300 kilometers (km) away.
“The Afro Cena Theater Show is of fundamental importance for the municipality of Cavalcante and for Brazilian society as a whole. Here we have located the largest quilombola territory in Brazil, which are the Kalunga communities, and the invitation is to reflect on the city through black arts, enhancing all ancestry of Afro-Brazilian and local culture”, says Edymara Diniz, director and creator of the event, which had its first edition in 2018.
Schedule
Afro Cena Theater Show – Publicity/Exhibition of Afro Cena Theater
This Friday, from 18 pm, the program is aimed at children. The Nutra group presents the circus play Clown or Clown, if you prefer… How do you like it?at Praça Diogo Telles Cavalcante, in the city center.
Then, at 9:00 pm, the Bando de Teatro Olodum, from Bahia, which has a career of more than 30 years, presents the show Erewhich has the scenic design of Lázaro Ramos (former member of Bando).
Closing today’s program at 10:30 pm, the local group Flores e Frutos do Quilombo Kalunga presents the result of more than 10 years of work with quilombola children and adolescents in the Sussa dance, a typical event recognized as a national heritage.
Tomorrow (11), the events start at 8:30 am, with the Black Performance workshop, by Bando de Teatro Olodum. “It is very important to return to Cavalcante at a festival like this, where there are people who remain from quilombos. We are multiplying agents of our doings, theater, dance, music, percussion, capoeira. We understand that art educates, transforms, uplifts, says Ednaldo Muniz, one of the members of the Bando.
At 2 pm, writer, actress and producer Cristiane Sobral conducts her Creative Writing workshop, an opportunity for the public to unlock and learn writing techniques.
Tomorrow night, the central square of the city receives the presentation of Cristine Sobral’s monologue waiting zombie, at 9 pm. Then the group Afoxé Ogum Pá presents the show processionat 10:30 pm.
Sunday’s program begins with two conversation circles, led by the show’s creator Edymara Diniz and by actor and playwright Jonathan Andrade, production coordinator of the event.
The first round will be at 9:30 am, on teaching theater in rural black communities. The second one starts at 2 pm and the theme will be Black Theater and Ancestrality: Between Africas and Brazil.
At night, Co. Trotamundus de Teatro closes the show’s activities at 8 pm with the show The Day Mabata Bata Exploded, based on a short story by the Mozambican writer Mia Couto. The presentation will be at Praça Diogo Telles Cavalcante.
Click here to access the full program of the show.
Training
Since its first edition, the show has provided training for quilombolas in the region in the area of cultural production.
Twenty-one young kalunga act as interns during all stages of the event: pre-production, during the show and post-event. Young people receive a scholarship worth R$500.
Kalunga
The Quilombo Kalunga territory was recognized in 2021 by the United Nations (UN) as the first Territory and Area Conserved by Indigenous and Local Communities (Ticca) in Brazil, it is the largest quilombola territory in the country, and covers three municipalities in the region of Chapada dos Veadeiros: Cavalcante, Monte Alegre de Goiás and Teresina de Goiás.
