Bibiana Jiménez XXTanzTheater: LA POLA – Ontologies of Women, Movement and Decoloniality

In the organizer's words:

Dance is a living language that preserves collective memory and serves as a space of resistance. At the same time, the stories that the bodies tell in dance have often been erased or reinterpreted over time. In Latin America in particular, the representation of women in dance has been shaped by colonial and patriarchal structures that still restrict their self-determination and visibility today.

Inspired by the Colombian resistance fighter and national heroine Policarpa Salavarrieta (La Pola), XXTanzTheater dedicates itself to the topic of colonialism and its lasting effects in a transcultural dialog. The eponymous piece LA POLA reflects on the history of women in the context of colonial power relations from an artistic and gender-specific perspective.

Policarpa Salavarrieta was born around 1795 in Guaduas, near Bogotá, and was arrested in the fall of 1817 and sentenced to death by the newly created "Consejo Permanente de Guerra" ("Permanent War Council"). She is still regarded in Colombia today as a symbol of the resistance struggle against the Spanish reconquest of New Granada. Her story becomes the starting point for making the strength and courage of strong women in different cultures visible.

The performative installation LA POLA takes us through cultures and tells women's stories in choreographic images. Traditional Colombian dances meet contemporary dance to reflect on questions of identity, self-determination, one's own body and women's knowledge. LA POLA brings together the Central European (colonizing) and Caribbean (colonized) perspectives at eye level and allows them to enter into a creative dialogue with each other. Film, performance and music merge into a performative installation that deconstructs colonial, discriminatory principles and structures in an intercultural and multidisciplinary way. The installation overcomes cultural boundaries, confronts the patriarchal legacy of colonization and creates space for exchange and reflection in order to open up new perspectives on the history and present of women.

Team:

Artistic direction, choreography: Bibiana Jiménez (D/K)
Project management dance program Atlántico University, management research Atlántico University: Tania Iglesias (K)

Collaboration research work dances "Danzas de Laboreo" Atlántico University: Monica Lindo (K)

Consulting research ZZT: Sevi Bayraktar (D)

Mentoring workshops ZZT: Sevi Bayraktar (D), Constanze Schellow (D)

Coordination Cooperation ZZT: Nina Patricia Hänel (D)

Dance performance installation: Daniela Riebesam (D), Viola Cantu (D/I), Ido Grinberg (ISR/D) and on 11 & 12.10.2025: Andrea Ariza (K), Valentina Geraldino (K), Mariangel Niebles (K)

Film direction, editing: Diego Insignares (K)
Editing video installation: Christoph Wedi (D), Bibiana Jiménez (D/K)

Technology performance installation: Christoph Wedi (D)
Production management: Asta Nechajute (D)
Press & public relations: neurohr & andrä (D)

Music: from the CD "Voces, Señales" Eva Zöllner, Ana María Romano, Carolina Noguera Palu, Carlos Andrés Rico, Daniel Leguizamón, Natalia Valencia Zuluaga, Jorge Gregorio García Moncada

Movie guests:

Casabe work (Casaberos), San Zenon, Magdalena, Col.: Carmen Mulfo Acuña, Néstor Villalobos

Casabe Dance (Danzas del Casabe): Grupo Raúl Guerrero Rodríguez

Pilanderas Momposinas dance group: Nayib Eljadue

Dance & Cultural Management Mompox, Bolivar, Colombia: Luz Daniela Oliveros / Santa Marta Olga Barrios

Locations: Rancho Yuma - San Zenon, La Casa de la Cultura de Mompox, Museo del Oro Tayrona - Sala Simón Bolívar - Santa Marta

Cooperation and promotion

Cooperation:

LA POLA is an international cooperation project between XXTanzTheater from Cologne and the dance program of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Atlántico University, Barranquilla (Colombia), in collaboration with the Master's program in Dance Education of the Center for Contemporary Dance at the Cologne University of Music and Dance (ZZT). The performative installation takes place in cooperation with the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum as part of the "The Future is Indigenous" program. From October 29, it will accompany the exhibition "AMAZÔNIA - Photographs by Sebastião Salgado".

Supported by:
Cultural Office of the City of Cologne, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste, NRW KULTURsekretariat, Ministry of Culture of Colombia (MinCultura), Faculty of Fine Arts of the Atlántico University.

Price information:

Admission to the performance is included in the museum entrance fee 7 euros / reduced 4.50 euros. Limited number of seats, reservation by e-mail to reservierungenlapola@gmail.com