ROSA
Carlos Rivera
Friday, October 4, 2024 – Sunday, October 6, 2024
Factory Theatre – Dance – 125 Bathurst St
60m | Spanish w/ English Surtitles
An ode to women’s power and their ability to move mountains.
ROSA, a peasant Indigenous woman from Ixtacamaxtitlan, located in the highlands of Puebla State, flees her community with her six small children on her back. As she escapes a life of abuse at the hands of her husband and her in-laws, she crosses valleys, climbs mountains, and faces enormous challenges. After three weeks she arrives in Mexico City where she will face her greatest challenge yet: brutal discrimination. This will force her to make a choice that will have an impact on her, her children, and will reverberate for generations to come.
Through movement, theatre, video and documentary, ROSA highlights the female body, its relationship to the land, and its capacity to resist, survive, and transform.
To learn more download the Show Information Package here: ROSA – Info Package
October 4, 2024 at 7:00 PM
October 5, 2024 at 7:00 PM
October 6, 2024 at 2:30 PM
Sunday Oct. 6 – stay after the show for a Talkback with the Artist!
“Carlos Rivera is an esteemed artist in the community. We can’t wait to share this new work with you by this talented, committed, and treasured artist.”
Beatriz Pizano, Aluna Theatre
Concept, director and choreographer
Carlos Rivera
Performer
Patricia Rivera
Sound Scenography and Musical Composition
Francisco Carrera
Lighting Design
Laura Dominguez
Costume Builders
Carey Lees, Elena Vandakurova and Jolane Houle
Scenography concept
Carlos Rivera
Scenography builder
Blue (Corinna) Johnston
Make-up Design
Carlos Rivera
Texts
Justino Rivera and Francisco Carrera
Pre-recording voices
Maria Elva Zermeno, Carmen Vera, Randia de Sofia and Justino Rivera
Cultural Consultant
Justino Rivera
Photography
Gerardo Montiel Klint, Carlos Rivera and Francisco Carrera
Video
Gerardo Montiel Klint and Carlos Rivera
Video Editing
Naomi Silver-Vezina
Technical Director
Francisco Carrera
Executive production
Arianna Suarez (Mexico) and Carlos Rivera (Canada)
ROSA is a Carlos Rivera production in collaboration with Onndinok (Montreal) y Abra Projects (Mexico)
ROSA is proudly co-presented at RUTAS International Performing Arts Festival by Aluna Theatre and Factory Theatre.
ROSA benefited from the Indigenous Dramaturgies Residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, the Creation and Research Residency at Centro para las Artes y la Cultura de la Ribera, and the Indigenous World Dance Residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity.
Thank you to Ireri Mugica, Arianna Suarez, Fernanda Salas, Zizinet Mirave, Alberto Rivera, Alfredo Rivera, Alicia Marques and Family Islas Lopez for their unconditional support and guidance for the creation of ROSA. A big thank you to Bea Pizano and María Escolán from Aluna Theatre, and to Mel Hague from Factory Theatre for their unconditional support presenting ROSA at RUTAS 2024.
Special thank you to Yves Sioui-Durand, Catherine Joncas, Melodie Couture, Marina Acevedo, Janine Windolph, Alejandro Ronceria, Santee Smith, Edgardo Moreno, Jolane Houle, David Sweeney, Mario Sanchez and Charles Koroneho for the conversations and guidance throughout the creation of ROSA.
Tlazocamati to all!
About the artist
Carlos Rivera
Carlos Rivera is a director, choreographer, actor and a dancer, originally from Mexico City, based in Montreal. He graduated from the Indigenous Residency Program at National Theatre School in 2018 and recently graduated from the MFA in Directing for Theatre Program at the University of Ottawa. Carlos has worked and collaborated with several performing arts companies across Canada, including: Red Sky Performance (Toronto), Globe Theatre (Regina), Raven Spirit Dance (Vancouver), MT Space (Kitchener), Puente Theatre (Victoria), Ondinnok (Montreal) Lemon Tree Creations (Toronto) Electric Company (Vancouver) Micro-Scope Productions (Montreal); among others. He is continuously working on numerous artistic projects in dance, film, theatre and performance.
Patricia Rivera
Patricia is a dancer and choreographer born in Mexico City and is a 2014 graduate from the National Dance School Nellie and Gloria Campobello. She is the founder and artistic director of Ts’ook a dance, a performing arts platform based in Mexico City. Patricia is an award winning performer who works as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer of original dance works that have been presented at the most well known venues in Mexico. She has worked and collaborated with some of the most important Mexican dance artists and companies like Triciclo Rojo, Danza Capital, and CEPRODAC-Center for The Creation and Production of Contemporary Dance, among others. She has toured to Colombia, Cuba, Argentina, USA, Japan, and Costa Rica.
What ROSA brings to Toronto
When I sat down with Carlos to learn more about the piece – how it began and what made him do it – he took me through a beautiful journey of love; one where an artist and a family search for their roots. I tried to picture his grandmother, this powerful woman, with her six children on her back; I imagine her as she was taken from her community by her husband-to-be, who submitted her to violence and forced labour; I imagine her strength leaving with her children; and finally, I imagine her at the end of her life, dying peacefully at home surrounded by her children and grandchildren.
This Personal Cartography of love is a “family affair.” The creation and research process has allowed many members of Carlos’s family to partake in this creation. The performer interpreting Rosa, Patricia Rivera, is herself Rosa’s granddaughter and Carlos’ cousin.
In addition, Carlos’ father has also been instrumental in the creation of the piece; he was one of the six children who took that journey with Rosa all the way to Mexico City when he was only eight years old. ROSA is a beautiful example of the importance of community and family in a creative process and of how much it transforms not only the creators, but generations to come. For all involved, this has been a way of recovering their personal stories, their roots, and their ancestry as an act of resistance against oblivion and the erasure/cultural violence against Indigenous peoples.
Carlos Rivera is an esteemed artist in our community. ROSA will have its world premiere at RUTAS and we can’t wait to share this new work with you by this talented, committed, and treasured artist.