Rites of Consecration was registered by a series of Three performances by the codename Hibrida, Hosted in Rio de Janeiro By the Maracana Village and São Paulo by Collegio das Artes. 

This Series was registered in video and photography. 

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Dec 2012 and Feb 2013 three pieces happened at the indigenous movement called Maracanã Village in Rio de Janeiro.

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"The village, which has sheltered over 70 Indians from more than 17 ethnicities, was frequently visited by large numbers of Indian and non- Indian supporters. Most of those living there or visiting the building have migrated across the years to the city of Rio or near-by, looking for better education, health assistance or to escape from land conflict issues in their home villages. 

Built-in 1862, the village's imperial house has witnessed numerous important projects and decisions for Brazil's indigenous people. Originally owned by the Portuguese Duque Saxe, it became the property of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Trade in 1889, when the Republic was installed. Around 1910, it was home to the first institute of indigenous cultural research in Brazil. Soon after, it became the main office for the Indian Protection Bureau, today FUNAI – National Indian Foundation – founded by the renowned Marechal Cândido Rondon, its first director and the person responsible for the creation of the Xingu National Park. Besides, until 1978, it was the first headquarters of the Museum of the Indian People in Brazil, created by the anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro, another notable Brazilian Indian expert. It is clear, I believe, that no single factor or act of resistance accounts for the importance of the 'Aldeia Maracanã'. A significant part of the white and Indian people's history in Brazil is found under that roof." ( Raoni, 19/03/2013) 

 

The building was constructed in 1862 by Dom Luís Augusto. In 1910 it was donated to the Fundação Nacional do Índio, a state agency that sought to preserve Brazil's indigenous culture. 

On March 22, 2013, the Maracana Village was occupied by the police and the Indians withdrew. Protests by several social and political groups followed.

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I originally got involved in the cause in 2012 in my first visit to one of the events.  Engaged in the setting and events, I was introduced to many amazing people, including one of the leaders of the Village, Cacique Tucano.  He told me about the cause and invited me to bring performance and to connect to the cause through an email thread and a Facebook Page. Together with my french friend Cordelia Fourneau, who also affiliated with the cause on the same occasion,  we returned several times intending to increase awareness. The circumstances and political pressures raised quickly and we need to engage the general society to know about the cause, so I shared between my art community and invited few people to participate in the performance I wrote. 

After 7 years of reviewing this series, I see it as a Rite of Consecration. I remember at this time I saw a performance based on  Stravinsky Le Sacre Du Printemps. It felt a sense of connection between the pieces, I was re-membering parts that were left out.  The dissonances creating new patterns out of my common days, revealing the sources of a lot of suffering.

 It was very meaningful and a grounding social work I dedicated to, that brought symbolic messages revealing deeper layers of myself in the world, of my ancestor's battles, in this case, I am a union of all three sides of the conflict between European conquerors, Indigenous and African people.  I was there to find a missing piece, and I was consecrated by the total devotion I was committed to. 

 

The series of Performing Rituals happened in the historic building, followed by my trip to Mato Grosso for the occasion of the Indigenous Olympic Games. During this trip, I met Carlos Bororo, an indigenous leader of the Bororo People. We became good friends. He was responsible to collect the signatures from indigenous leaders from different ethnicity that was present to the event. I end up as a bridge to get them back to Rio. Carlos Bororo was also closely related to Marechal Rondom, this was a very interesting coincidence...   As I arrived in Rio, I run straight to the court very early morning after being called by Tucano.  I arrive right on time to the court audience to give the book of signatures. 

 

The performances: Hibrida, Rite of Washing Hands (Dec 2012). A Portuguese pitcher and Bowl, water, menstrual blood I collected from a moon cup, hair. Those elements were blended in the bowl from where I try to untangle the hair to create a pattern in a Brazilian History Book. To my surprise, the mixture made the hair more entangled, and It became one single piece I was able to stretch the fibers and create a very organic and asymmetric. The hair ends up as a kind of bookmark that tells the story of the book in its DNA made by its own, my blood and water.  In this act, I was trying to synthesize the imprints of the history of The Bandeirantes during the Moçoes expeditions capturing and slaving indigenous communities along the river shores, which resulted in deadly massacres imprinted on the water by indigenous heads and blood, coloring the landscape in red and dark.    

 

In March 2013, I presented one more performance-based in two acts:

The first act: Washing the floor of the Grand Salon from where I invited the participation of the entire community to bring buckets of water, brooms, and some herbs to clean the floor in a ceremony of purification to wash the floors of one of the central salons of the building. The Grand Salon hosted in the past, celebrations for the Portuguese Monarchy. It was a very beautiful moment where everyone got to participate, and the poet Bayard Tonnelly dressed in a costume of an old tree, led us to a prayer reflection moment. We sang and moved the water from a very dirty floor where we got to see the layers of our own composition, moving together. 

The Second Act: The Story of our Species Re-Vololution performed with the indigenous community, including a poetry piece wrote by Darcy Ribeiro The birth of Planet Earth recited by Bayard Tonelli, an excerpt from Indigenous voices from the book The speech of Guarani performed by Sheyla de Castilho, and two traditional Lyric Songs, Araruna by Marlui Miranda and Parakanã tribe and Ave Maria by Shubert performed by the Capela voice of Clarice Prieto. I  participated in this performance as a Hybrit being covered by layers, the first one like an egg made out of paper and wooden mask dissolved by water reveling underneath a sneak printed head to toe body suit which shaded from the center of the head, appearing a face painted by Urucum and Jenipapo pigments. 

The costumes included the snake, headpieces, and the old tree, which was created by me with the collaboration of Cristina Cordeiro.

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The third performance of the series was realized in Sao Paulo in Collegio Das Artes, a project led by Salete Barrato de Abreu. 

Hybrid Banquet was performed in two acts: First The Banquet where I cooked a special menu for a group of 12 people. At the table was set a menu of conversation and the recipe Salmon ceviche bathed in mermaids milk.  In the menu, the audience could choose a topic to share in a table conversation. The topic was an excerpt from Plato's Banquet on the central theme of LOVE and relationships.

At the center of the table highlighted a single colorful Bird in a Cage.  The food was cooked and served by me,  as the p[participants shared the food and an effervescent conversation around the subject.

The second act was and an invitation to share the desert  "Ondina marinated on the watermelon". I called the audience using an indigenous bird whistle to follow the sound to a pool outdoors of the house. The bird was brought to the side of the pool as I performed diving underneath the water and many layers of red plastic and turquoise fabric. Each time submerge underneath the layers,  I found an object to bring out the water: A Machette, a watermelon. The performance ends with the cut of the watermelon serving the bird and the audience, A desert. 

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Translation results

This series of work mark a liminal phase in my life, integration of the indigenous memories, I call it a Soul Retrieval, leading to new investigations on the fields of  Somatics and the memory stored in the Body. It leads to meet with new mentors in the fields of Healing practices and methodologies through, movement, sound, and space. Also followed by my immigration to San Francisco, California.  
 

More about Maracanã Village http://raoni.com/news-643.php

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