Música En Movimiento – Chascomús, Argentina

Just in from Luciano Pietrafesa and Mike Grenfell – the recently completed Música En Movimiento project held in Chascomús past April:

This was the second MeM residential Performance Project in a five-month period. Both built extensively on the various At-a-distance projects we had undertaken during the pandemic. Most of the same teams were involved, including those from Mendoza, La Plata, Salta, Ecuador and Buenos Aires – plus some newcomers. 

In a sense, therefore, these projects represented a ‘Completion’ of work from this period: much of the repertoire came from the AADs, complemented by some GC classics. In Chascomus, we continued developing the elements of our practice: Morning Sitting; Body Work; Kitchen Craft; Themes; Calisthenics. 

Nevertheless, Chascomus was a very different location. The December project was based in a retreat residence already known to us and involved performances in and around familiar territory in Mendoza. Chacomus was completely different: a waterside ‘camp’ with individual cabins near La Plata in the Buenos Aires province. 

In the event, the site worked well and offered a good base for our various activities. 

We combined an ‘Introduction’ course with the main project, with the former team joining the latter prior to the performances. 

Bodywork included daily sessions with Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Feldenkreis. 

Many ‘theme’ issues came up in post-meal discussions and personal meetings; often arising from the AAD work in this area. But, we took the overall Theme for the week as ‘the possibility of change’ as a guiding topic. This Theme returned in many discussions, including the Final meeting. 

We were booked to do four public performances: one with the local municipality and regional senators in Chascomus; one in the 888 Club near La Plata; one in the municipal school; and another in the Chascomus cathedral. However, in the event, we actually did 8 performances, with additional presentations on the harbor front, a public rehearsal, and others in the local park where a fiesta was being held for Easter. 

 The diversity of these performance locales was feature of the project. The presentation for the local dignitaries was a way of connecting with politicians and administrators of Buenos Aires Province. The outcome of this event was a formal declaration of Musica en Movimiento as a significant cultural body for the Province – signed by the regional senator. The 888 Club was a popular music venue; many of the politicians and administrators from the previous evening also attended. All performances played to ‘full houses’. The balloon Aero Solar Museum at the municipal school was probably the most unusual. Based on Tomas Saraceno’s artist installation that had been exhibited at the last Venice Biennale, the performance space was located in a giant balloon: made from glued together plastic bags and inflated by a large fan. Here, both musicians and audiences moved around each other. A unique event! The Cathedral was totally different. However, movement was still a key factor in the performance with musicians moving around the distinct parts of the Cathedral and making use of its evident acoustic resonances.  

The project completed with a feedback and commentary session, as synthesis and integration. It was evident that the work undertaken here very much represented  the culmination of our teams’ engagement since we began the MeM experiment in 2017. Also, very evident were the ways forward for building on this work in the immediate period to follow and beyond. 

Luciano and Mike