Tour passed through Cascavel and Foz do Iguaçu, in the state of Paraná, and Asunción, in the neighboring country
The Pantanal has been burning again. Animals, especially reptiles and amphibians, have once again fallen victim to the flames. The bright colors so characteristic of the biome are already giving way to ashes. Between January and August of this year, 1.22 million hectares had already burned, according to the MapBiomas Fire Monitor. While wildfires spread across the Pantanal, the largest floodplain on the planet, the Instituto Moinho Cultural Sul-Americano (South American Cultural Mill Institute), of Corumbá/MS, continues its mission of calling the world’s attention to the environmental problem and raising awareness through art. Dancers from the Cia de Dança do Pantanal (Pantanal Dance Company) and musicians from OCAMP (Orquestra de Câmara do Pantanal, the Pantanal Chamber Orchestra) went on a new tour with the show “Guadakan”. This time, the production was presented in Cascavel and Foz do Iguaçu (PR) and also at the Pulso International Dance Festival, in Asunción, Paraguay. More than 800 people watched “Guadakan” on this tour.
Conceived from an indigenous Guató myth, an ethnic group established on the border between Brazil and Bolivia, the show tells a story that highlights the need to preserve the Pantanal and all its biodiversity, especially at the current moment being experienced by Humanity, with various kinds of changes and climate emergencies. Combining contemporary dance and music, with a live soundtrack, the production takes a journey to the origins of the peoples of the Pantanal, seeking the wisdom of that ancestry, which crosses generations, to reveal warnings.
Open to the public, the show is one of the Moinho Cultural’s actions supported through the Lei de Incentivo à Cultura (Culture Incentive Law, Lei Rouanet), with master sponsorship from the Instituto Cultural Vale, in addition to sponsorship from BTG Pactual, LHG Mining, Suzano, Too Seguros and RealH.
The show, adapted to be presented in tour format, had until then already been seen by more than 5,000 people. The production had previously been presented in Corumbá, Campo Grande, Dourados and Ponta Porã, in Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as in the cities of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and São Paulo (SP).
Ballet teacher Giullianno Silvero watched the show during this tour, in Foz do Iguaçu, and called the production “incredible”. “Beautiful aesthetics, wonderful costumes, flawless story. The concern for the environment, nature and the way they expressed what is happening was flawless. The message that remains is: ‘let’s take care of our planet’. The show touched me deeply”, he said, right after watching the performance.
For civil servant Glaiz Duarte, ‘Guadakan’ was an overcoming of emotions in Cascavel. “It was discovering emotions and overcoming them: the sadness caused by the fires, the lack of awareness. Everything stays inside us. The show was of great emotion. It carried a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, but of incomparable beauty. It was wonderful”, she said.
In Foz do Iguaçu, the presentation of the show included the participation of a representative from Unila (Universidade Federal da Integração Latino Americana, the Federal University of Latin American Integration). Luciano d’ Miguel, cultural producer and head of the Culture Department of the university’s Extension Office, said that they should soon sign an agreement with the Instituto Moinho Cultural Sul-Americano.
“Thanks to the dialogue we have started, we will very soon have an agreement involving Unila, together with Moinho Cultural, so that art in border regions can be more widely practiced, studied, refined and encouraged. And that we may have artistic residencies and make the flow of the rivers of our regions bring with them the new culture”, he pointed out.
About Moinho Cultural
Celebrating 20 years in 2024, the Instituto Moinho Cultural Sul-Americano is a civil society organization that works in Brazil’s border territories for the positive transformation of local reality, giving voice and opportunity to children, adolescents and young people, through access to cultural assets, technological knowledge, notions of entrepreneurship and full citizenship. Since the start of its activities, more than 25,000 children and adolescents have already been served by the institution.
The Institute also partners with Criança Esperança, J.Macêdo, Fecomércio – Sesc, Sicredi, Sebrae and Sesi, cultural support from the Fundação de Cultura do Mato Grosso do Sul and the Government of Mato Grosso do Sul, institutional partnership with the Corumbá City Hall, Ladário City Hall, Puerto Suárez City Hall, Puerto Quijarro City Hall, Instituto Homem Pantaneiro, IFMS, UFMS, Acaia Pantanal and other individual and corporate donors.
