Réquiem para un Alcaraván

Requiem for an Alcaraván is a performative dance of the ‘man-woman’. In the Zapotec culture, ‘muxheidad’ includes homosexuality, gayness and same-sex marriage with certain contradictions. A ‘muxe’ is a man who assumes affective, emotional and sexual roles that are traditionally reserved for women. The ‘muxheidad’ is a celebration of what is socially acceptable to some degree and yet it is still considered a transgression.

As the zapotec man-woman dances, they invite the spectator to participate in the ‘female rites of passage’ - the traditional wedding, the stewardship, the Healer-prayer, the Mourning and the Metamorphosis. The dancers soul is incarnated into a local bird called the stone-curlew (berelele in Zapotec, or alcaravan in Spanish), where the male cycle closes when they mate. Sometimes the male is sacrificed by the females.

Credits:

Performance: Lukas Avendaño