With this stage, held in Kohima, Dec. 4-5, 2021, the project went to remote regions, exploring Nagaland, a state in northeast India, where even today local tribes and clans play a very important role, keeping performance traditions alive.
Nagaland is best known for Hornbill, an international folklore festival that brings together all 14 tribes in exhibitions and performances. It was in the context of this important event that the work session Walls that close, walls that free was held, in which the border, an unfortunately heartfelt and topical issue in this region of India due to political and military tensions, was explored from the perspective of social, natural and geographic boundaries and barriers. A focus was kept on the juxtaposition of large cities and rural areas, cultural hegemonies and local traditions.
Work exchange and hands-on workshop – Kohima, Nagaland
The extraordinary richness in song and dance, which characterizes the Naga performers, allowed a few hands-on workshops, held to get in touch with a culture still little known in the rest of the world and to establish a new intercultural dialogue between Italian and local artists, including a very young group that is developing a fusion dance project to actualize Naga tribal dances.
In addition to the discussion with the young Naga performers, director Anna Dora Dorno and actor Nicola Pianzola had the extraordinary opportunity to attend and Naga tribes’ performances during the Hornbill festival at the Kisama Heritage Village, creating a rich audiovisual documentation that later constituted useful research material for the project itself.
Hornbill Festival – Nagaland
In addition, the Italian Consul in Kolkata went specifically to Kohima just to attend this working stage, which was in fact the first ever collaboration between Italy and Nagaland, thus opening new avenues of cultural cooperation between our country and this state of India.
Thanks to the collaboration with project partner Tafma, the task force created by the government of Nagaland for the development of music and dance in the region, it was not only possible to carry out this exchange stage, but also to receive, in a reciprocal way, the folk singing group Tetseo Sisters (for the first time in Europe), during the PerformAzioni Festival in Bologna, directed by Instabili vaganti, the project leader.
The working stage in Nagaland was also made possible thanks to the collaboration with project partner Culture Monks of Kolkata, which handled the organization and promotion, and the support of the Italian Institute of Culture in New Delhi and the Italian Consulate in Kolkata.