Tekeraoi am mananga!

- a choreographed mass migration   

Imagine being involuntarily nomad. To walk because you have no choice. To wander the world restlessly. Without home. Without nation. Because you belong nowhere.

We are soon faced with the greatest migration in human history. In 35 years, 200 million people will be driven from their home as a consequence of global warming. This is the prognosis of UN's climate panel, but the international community quietly closes the doors; "According to the conventions, you can not be granted asylum based on climate change".
Meanwhile the first millions have already been displaced without rights or protection. We silently observe as hundreds of millions homeless people are dragged in the wake of the capitalist consumer community.

Tekeraoi am mananga! (Good luck on your journey!) is a choreographed mass migration.
In one movement a wandering manifestation and an immersive audiowalk that lead the audience through the city in rootless and claustrophobic flock choreography.
The audience is initiated choreographically via headphones and maintained throughout the walk in an intense physical investigation of displacement, rootlessness and exhaustion.
The audience movement through the urban space is shaped by a choreographic, auditory and scenographic mindset that interprets the urban space from different viewpoints, in a reflective limbo between the present and the future we are in the midst of creating.

Walking with us are Akaka Maemae and Kaatita Kabwaba. For them, the investigation is a preparation. In just 25 years, their entire nation will have disappeared under the surface of the sea.
Within the constant pulsating progress of the journey, a dynamic cross-section is created between participation and witnessing, moving and listening, guiding the audience into the authentic tales of the two young i-Kiribati artists.

Composer Anne Eltard, Scenographer Annika Nilsson and choreographer Ingrid Tranum Velásquez travelled in September 2015 to Kiribati to engage in research for the project. The stay, which was supported by a.o. Center for Culture and Development and the National Art Foundation, aimed at creating networks with local artists and gaining insight into the clashes between people, nature, politics and culture, which climate change has made everyday life for residents of Tarawa, Kiribati's most populated atoll. Here we met Akaka Maemae and Kaatita who in 2017 joined us in Copenhagen for the creation of the production.

The choreographed journey was staged in Elsingore, Odense, Aarhus and Copenhagen in August 2017, a.o. as part of Passage Festival, Little Rebellions - Kulturby Aarhus 2017 and Teater Momentum.
 
"The journey is exciting and extremely effective. Because it rests in the body as a concrete experience of how it feels, not to have any place to sit down - simply because your country is flooded." Anne Middelboe Christensen, Information.

"The dance and music on the walk is full of human vulnerability and tenderness for eachother." Helsingør Dagblad.

"It is a proposal of reflection, debate and action. The performance was announced as a performance about climate change. And it was. But it was also much more than that. Tekeraoi am mananga! is truly touching and the end was both unexpected and in itself a beautiful experience. Kulturmor.dk.

"The earth is disappearing beneath you. The feeling slowly eats its way inwards, while we walk there, a little flock in the center of Aarhus, and the rain as an insisting companion throughout the summer, suddenly changes from being bad weather to becoming flood warnings of future climate changes." 4 hearts, Monna Dithmer, Politiken

Article in Blacklisted can be read here

Choreography and staging:
Ingrid Tranum Velásquez in collaboration with the performers
Composer:
Anne Eltard in collaboration with Akaka Maemae.
Scenographer:
Annika Nilsson
Dramaturg:
Christine Fentz
Performers:
Akaka Maemae (musician), Kaatita Kabwaba (dancer), Anne Eltard and the audience.
Flock leaders: Lars Gregersen and Carina Raffel.
Production management:
Frej Stenholt Mortensen

The production is supported by:
Københavns Kommunes Scenekunstudvalg, Odense Kommunes Kulturpulje, Århus Kommunes Kulturudviklingspuljen, Christianshavns Lokaludvalg