“The essence of human evolution is in migration.”
Tess Martens asked three questions to MIGRANTES ERRANTES creator Alicia Sánchez about ideas surrounding the show. MIGRANTES ERRANTES is an intimate account of migration. This show puts spectators on a bus transporting migrants across the border between Mexico and the US. It will be at 44 Gaukel parking lot in Downtown Kitchener, September 26-29 at 9pm.
Martens: What do you hope to communicate about migration between the American and Mexican border?
Sánchez: We want to talk about migration as a social phenomenon, beyond a specific border. Although we know very well that we are the country connected to the US border, we want to show the last outcome of a long journey, Migrantes Errantes is a sketch of experiences collected, in a playful and experiential way with the viewer to give way to a possible reflection of the situations in which Latin America faces.
Another important aspect that we would like to highlight is that migration is not only of humans, I mean that migration belongs to all animals and humans because we migrate to survive, in the face of adverse events and circumstances, therefore we emphasize that migrating is not a simple and easy choice to make, and less now under the restrictions of countries and their border policies. The world and all countries are made of migrants since we humans existed. We are all migrants.
Martens: How is it an important discussion now in these political times?
Sánchez: The world is having many changes, the borders are increasingly violent and militarized; as humans we should leave the divisions aside, seek union and strive as inhabitants of this planet to create solutions since in this century nobody is taking responsibility, we must be humanists and put aside the capitalist since there are social phenomena that are affected from this ideology, not only migration, but also education, housing, security, this century is violent and full of political wars, and they are not human confrontations, but ideological.
Martens: What is the most meaningful experience from showing your piece to an audience?
Sánchez: La migración no es algo politico, la migración es natural, migramos de ideas, migramos de ciudad, migramos de actitudes. La esencia de la evolución humana esta en la migración. Tiene que ver con el movimiento, y el movimiento nos mantiene vivos. Es importante que hablemos de éstas problemáticas sociales ya que debemos generar una comprensión de la situación de la afectación de lso seres humanos, ya que ésta experiencia nos hace responsables a todos.
Migration is not something political, migration is natural, we migrate from ideas, we migrate from our hometown city, we migrate from attitudes. The essence of human evolution is in migration. It has to do with movement, and movement keeps us alive. It is important that we talk about these social problems since we must generate an understanding of the situation of the affectation of human beings, since this experience makes us all responsible of.