Alma viva : para que florezca la memoria.

This documentary follows the work of Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani with Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created to investigate the violence which took place because of terrorism and political instability between 1980 and 2000 in Peru. On April 8, 2002 the TRC went to Huamanga for a first public hearing, followed by Huanta, Ayacucho three days after. Yuyachkani performed 'Adiós Ayacucho' (with Augusto Casafranca) and 'Rosa Cuchillo' (with Ana Correa); they also participated in public actions and vigils celebrated in public spaces to honor the 'disappeared'. The video shows townspeople speaking with members of Yuyachkani about their experiences with violence, interviews with Yuyachkani members about their experience performing and listening to the public, and footage of the performances and public testimonies. This is an excellent resource to understand Yuyachkanis relationship to their Peruvian audience -how their work has been influenced and driven by it. Perus most important theatre collective, Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani (www.yuyachkani.org) has been working since 1971 at the forefront of theatrical experimentation, political performance, and collective creation. Yuyachkani is a Quechua word that means I am thinking, I am remembering; under this name, the theatre group has devoted itself to the collective exploration of embodied social memory, particularly in relation to questions of ethnicity, violence, and memory in Peru. The group is comprised of seven actors (Augusto Casafranca, Amiel Cayo, Ana Correa, Débora Correa, Rebeca Ralli, Teresa Ralli, and Julián Vargas), a technical designer (Fidel Melquíades), and an artistic director (Miguel Rubio), who have made a commitment to collective creation as a mode of theatrical production and to group theatre as a life style. Their work has been among the most important in Latin Americas so called New Popular Theatre, with a strong commitment to grass-roots community issues, mobilization, and advocacy. Yuyachkani won Perus National Human Rights Award in 2000. Known for its creative embrace of both indigenous performance forms as well as cosmopolitan theatrical forms, Yuyachkani offers insight into Peruvian and Latin American theatre, and to broader issues of postcolonial social aesthetics. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics