The Babylonian Night

The night of 18th September 2021 was the first rehearsal for the BOWING performance. After weeks of going around the streets, greenhouses and fields, inviting people to come and experience this encounter, that first night came. It was the beginning of everything, with about 70 of us in the São Teotónio Parish Council Hall. Babylon arose. Different languages and features rendered the night incomprehensible. That's when it became evident that the São Teotónio migrant community is not one but multiple and complex, full of differences, layers and abysses. Everything seemed inaccessible and chaotic, yet there was a sense of joy. It's not every night that Babel breaks out in a thousand languages that converge in a Parish Council in Alentejo. It's not every night that many allow themselves to shout, to run in circles. It's not every night that the red dresses, saris, bindi, and perfume leave their houses for the unknown to test something out. And between the sweat and the clash of boundaries, between the chaos and the doubt, there was an intuition that something was right that night. A joy started to be felt and would extend over the months, growing like a pathway through incomprehension.