Encuentro 2014: ‘A magical energy’

We look back at an incredible week of performances, discussions and collaborations

July 3, 2014

By Tom Peacock

Spiderwoman Theater performs Red Mother | Photo courtesy of Concordia University

From June 21 to 28, the 2014 Encuentro conference and performance festival transformed Concordia into a hive of artistic and political expression around its theme, Manifest! Choreographing Social Movements in the Americas.

“We had incredibly lively debates in the conference, in the hallways and in the lobbies,” says Mark Sussman, associate dean of Academic and Student Affairs in the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Encuentro’s convenor. “We’ve also received excellent feedback from the participants. I think Concordia really showed that it was up to the task of hosting nearly 800 people, not counting members of the public who found ways to be involved.”

Anthony Kennedy, a Department of Theatre undergraduate student, participated in the Anti-Tar Sands Manifesto, an outdoor performance held during the Encuentro. Kennedy praised the event for the sense of togetherness and community it fostered, and for providing an “exceptionally organic” mix of artistic and academic activities. “Every lecture, performance, cabaret, drag race, dance party I went to was filled with a magical energy,” he said.

Jaime Black, The REDress Project
Photo courtesy of Concordia University

The Encuentro is co-hosted every two years by the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics in a different city in the Americas. The ninth edition was the biggest yet, and marked its first visit to Canada.

One of the goals of the conference was to highlight Canada’s First Nations and their important place in the country’s political and cultural landscape. Cree playwright, novelist and songwriter Tomson Highway kicked off the Encuentro with a keynote address, in which he made an impassioned case for the preservation of native languages. On June 28, Canadian filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, a member of the Abenaki Nation, spoke about the many documentary films she has made about Native communities and issues facing indigenous people throughout her career.

“I think we really showed some of the great artists and thinkers of First Nations Canada to our guests from outside of the country,” Sussman says. “It was a strong part of the Canadian programming for the event, and why this edition was such a success.”

The Encuentro wouldn’t have been possible without the help of an army of people and the collaboration of numerous partner venues, Sussman insists. “We had production interns, volunteers and staff scattered throughout the city. We also had the help of the STM [Société de transport de Montréal] bussing people from place to place.”

Ana Correa (Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani) performs Confessions | Photo courtesy of Concordia University

Logistical support from Hospitality Concordia was also key in making everything happen, he adds. “Marie-Josée Allard [director of Hospitality Concordia] and her team did an outstanding job.”

Stephen Lawson, a Department of Theatre artist in residence and lead organizer of the Encuentro, says he has also received a lot of positive reviews of the conference from participants.

“People that we spoke to were impressed by the possibility to just get swept up in it and be taken from place to place,” says Lawson. “They were dazzled by the amount of resources and the beautiful way everything was handled.”

As is the case in each Encuentro, participants championed a social issue — this year, it was accessibility for disabled at Montreal public sites.

Le Groupe Herencias performs Yemayo | Photo courtesy of Concordia University

Early during the conference, members of the Encuentro 2014 Disability Working Group, convened by Kim Sawchuk, a professor from the Department of Communication Studies, and postdoctoral researcher Arseli Dokumaci used improvised theatre to point out how one of the Encuentro’s venues was inaccessible to participants with disabilities.

“They did an incredibly moving performance to demonstrate the inaccessibility of a cabaret venue. That sparked a very important discussion that lasted the entire week, and we’re very grateful to them for raising it,” Sussman says. “It’s on the agenda for the Hemispheric Institute’s events going forward. There’s no question about that.”

Learn more about the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics

Encuentro 2014: ‘A magical energy’

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