From a fellow instructor of Where There Be Dragons' cultural immersion programs in Bolivia, here's a beautiful description of El Alto and Teatro Trono, as well as El Alto's history and global importance. Fascinating.
Gods, Mountains, and a Collective of Artists
by Julianne Chandler
Instructor
May 04, 2012
La Paz with Mt. Illimani in the distance
One of COMPA's cultural centers
Lake Titicaca with the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real in the distance
I am home. Despite my love of
travel, the thrill of visiting new places and rediscovering old ones (my
fourth visit to Machu Picchu!), I always experience a sense of release
when we cross the border back into Bolivia and I am enveloped by my
adopted home. The sacred, snow-capped peaks in Peru take my breath
away, but there is something about the familiarity of Illimani, that
majestic god-mountain overlooking La Paz, that brings me peace and
tranquility. It is in the bosom of this magical peak that we are
sharing our final two weeks of the semester.
At
20,200 feet, Mt. Illimani is the second-highest peak in Bolivia and one
of the most sacred in the Andes. According to Andean cosmology,
mountains are physical manifestations of the gods, and within them
reside the forces of both good and evil. These forces must be balanced
and appeased in order to maintain equilibrium between man and nature,
and for the Andean people this necessitates constant acts of reciprocity
and solidarity with the natural world. From our fairy-tale like
vantage point in El Alto, Illimani’s striking presence on the horizon
has been both a constant reminder of that precarious balance as well as a
radiating force of humility and positivity.
We
are currently collaborating with Teatro Trono, a fascinating and
inspiring collective of artists and activists in the community of Ciudad
Satelite in El Alto. Perched dramatically on the edge of La Paz, the
city spread out in a crater-like formation below, El Alto is both the
youngest and fastest-growing city in Bolivia and perhaps the entire
South American region. Emerging in the 1970s and 80s as a result of
structural changes in the economy and the sudden closing of several of
Bolivia’s largest mines, El Alto is an autonomous, primarily Aymara city
that began as peri-urban sprawl and ended up over-taking it’s mother
city in both size and population. With over a million people, El Alto
today is bigger than La Paz and the second-largest city in Bolivia. It
has been built entirely by the people of El Alto, with limited support
from the government and through the collective labor of its vibrant
neighborhood associations. Borrowing from the political formation of
the mining families that originally settled in El Alto, in addition to
the enduring tradition of social struggle of the Aymara people, the city
is arguably the most socially-organized society in the Western
Hemisphere.
Emerging from the midst of this
colorful social landscape, Teatro Trono and it’s umbrella organization
Colectivo COMPA is an energetic force of artistic mobilization and
social action. Started in 1989 to respond to rising rates of
delinquency and youth homelessness, COMPA seeks to engage young people
in theater and the arts in order to bring about social transformation.
Over the years, they have built a series of architecturally dazzling
cultural centers across El Alto where children, youth, and even parents
can find a creative outlet to help understand and respond to
economically challenging circumstances.
This
unique community of artists has taken us in, inviting us to participate
in their work and opening up homestay opportunities with families that
are associated with Trono. Based in a sprawling, seven-story artistic
center in Ciudad Satelite that was built largely by Collective members
with recycled materials, Teatro Trono is a powerful hug of social and
artistic activity and an inspiring place to begin to close out our time
together. In addition to homestays, we have participated in a theater
workshop with Collective members, taken a tour of their cultural centers
around El Alto, and had the great pleasure of seeing one of their
theater productions which the Collective will be taking to Rio de
Janeiro later this summer to present at a climate change conference
focused on water issues. During this time we have also met with
well-known journalist and longtime Dragons friend Jean
Friedman-Rudovsky, met with diplomats at the US Embassy, helped paint a
mural with Trono members in El Alto, and will head into the Cordillera
Real this afternoon for a bit of hiking in glaciated peaks.
From
the roof of Teatro Trono in El Alto, Illimani watches over us and
reminds us to be grateful for this magical experience. In a few days
time, we will head to the Valley of the Spirits, at the base of this
great peak, in order to reflect on our time together and begin to bring
the journey home.
from:
http://www.wheretherebedragons.com/Gods,-Mountains,-and-a-Collective-of-Artists_Y15260A2012A05Kcategory.htm
The majestic Cordillera Real, with Lake Titicaca (which lies on the Altiplano high plateau at 4000 meters), and La Paz/El Alto. This is one image that we're using as inspiration for the opening animation of the film... which will include the mass migrations from the mines in these mountains and the communities on the Altiplano, which created the city of El Alto. Of course, our mountains will be cholitas with huge skirts and awesome hats.