Lazaro Benitez
Occupation 2

Occupation 2 explores how dance can bear witness to complex social realities and collective memory. This creation is inspired by a significant event: in 2001, the Colombian village of Tabaco was destroyed by the multinational company Glencore, leaving hundreds of Afro-descendant and Wayuu families without relocation.

This act of violence is part of a long history of economic and ecological exploitation inherited from European colonization. Today, 23 years later, four Colombian performers use dance to question the memory of these forgotten struggles and the strength of silent resistance.

Drawing from archives and the rhythm of Vallenato, a popular music genre from the Caribbean coast, Occupation 2 sits between fiction and documentary to reactivate hidden memories. Dance becomes a poetic act of resistance in the face of past and present injustices.

Occupation 2 follows a first choreographic piece presented in 2023 at the Festival d’Avignon as part of “Vive le sujet! Tentatives,” an initiative by the Festival d’Avignon and SACD.