Inheritors of Maya Kaqchikel tradition, Sotz'il has recreated their history and spirituality through dance, music and theatre. "Sotz'il" means bat, the animal which brought the fire to their ancestors according to the Memorial de Sololá, and which is related to the ancient city Iximché, the first one to be conquered by the Spanish. From their name, they acknowledge themselves as bearers and performers of their Maya Kaqchikel traditions. This has enabled them to create their own repertoire, based on research among their own community.
Their performances are completely embedded in the Maya Kaqchikel spirituality. Kaqchikel is the language that they use in their scripts. Anthropologist Diego Vásquez has explained how the process of staging their work includes Maya ceremonies, because they are not seeking to represent the characters of the performance, but to actually invoke them in the space. Regarding dance, they have researched how each motif of their movement is related to a specific animal, which they have presented in a book. Regarding music, they utilice pre-hispanic instruments, as Juan Carlos Figueroa has described.
Comments