Western theatre under indigenous influence

reflections on the epistemology and poetic hybridity in the performance Canek by the Vendímia Company, Bogotá

Abstract

The article analyzes the staging of "Canek or the Transfigurations of Dreaming" as an example of a Western theatrical practice that seeks to integrate poetics of indigenous origin. It describes the resulting poetic hybridity and relates it to an Amerindian epistemology. Based on this analysis, it argues that it is possible to integrate Western and indigenous performance procedures in the same performance. In order to do so, it advocates the necessity of balancing historical and mytho-spiritual perspectives in the textual and scenic dramaturgy in such a way as to harmonize the historical world with the principles of the indigenous worldview. This balance is established through a poetic hybridity that, within the context of the indigenous worldview, articulates the temporary harmonization of opposing forces and in the empirical world references the creation of social justice.