Performance of “Gualicho”

Gualicho: Choreographic ritual and mystery in dialogue with Leónidas Gambartes

The performance Gualicho is brought to us by Cía Ximena Carnevale, focusing on experience, the memory of the land, and tradition, looking at dance and music as a shamanic act, between tradition and post-dance. The piece engages in dialogue with Gambartes’ work: his landscapes, full of symbolism, coincide almost magically with the language of the primitive and the sacred that Gualicho seeks to transmit. It respectfully reclaims memory, territory and identity.

The Mapuche concept of gualicho (a superstitious practice that can attract love or cause harm) inspires this piece, which unfolds as a shamanic act celebrating life, art and the connection with nature. The choreography finds resonance in the music with traditional acoustic elements such as the Andean drum, bells and leather straps. Field recordings and abstract textures allude to mystery and the intangible. The aim is to generate an immersive atmosphere that connects the spectator with the landscapes evoked by Gambartes in his work.

Some of the highlights are bodies involved in working the land, folk dances and rhythms, all electronically reinterpreted within the soundscape. The body becomes an instrument that channels stories, building bridges between memory and modernity. A journey into the present. Soundscapes, tribal pulses, and voices/songs blend with organic and earthly movements to achieve spiritual and physical ecstasy.