STUDENT TESTIMONIALS

Dear Shebana,

First of all, I want to thank you for your marvelous performance, I really hope that it continues going well. I have seen you performing twice and, even if it included some parts that were the same, I did not feel it was the same performance.

I see the lies of colonizers, I smell the spices and incenses that they took, I hear the voices that were silenced with their language, it tastes to truths that were oppressed, and I can feel the swords which they used to do it.

Veo las mentiras de los colonizadores, huelo las especias y los inciensos que se llevaron, escucho las voces que callaron con sus lenguas, me sabe a verdades que fueron oprimidas, y puedo sentir las espadas con las que lo hicieron.

Me pareció una experiencia increíble, casi no era consciente de que estábamos en una clase, así que imagino que si llevas a cabo la idea de hacerlo en la naturaleza o algún espacio abierto, se puede convertir en un experimento muy interesante para las personas que puedan compartirlo. .
Ana

Being from a country rich in culture, history, traditions and unique national identity is a pretty nice feeling which makes a person proud of where he is coming from.

However, let us imagine for a moment that all this "package" mentioned above is constantly being underrated.

This feeling might be familiar only to those who have this so-called "historical memory" and who have experienced the fear of being forgotten because of colonization.

Two days ago I was hurrying to university and for the first time I was late for that very class. When I got in I saw a very charming woman next to my professor.

She was dressed in black with red lines typical to Indian culture. "She is Indian", I thought, "but what is she doing here?"

I could never think she would lead the class but as soon as I sat down our professor announced we would have a special class that day.

After introducing Shebana Coelho, a performance artist and obviously an immigrant, the magic began.

…as she started talking and communicating with us with bodily movements and a catchy voice, I started waiting breathlessly for what would happen next.

With organized speech , harmonic voice she started turning the pages of history.

Throughout the performance she was burning like fire and I could feel the heat, the agony, the fear of being forgotten, the resistant desire to conserve the culture.

She could break the invisible walls we all had created and she could fully absorb our energetic aura.

With her short songs, her fixed movements and perfect approach I was experiencing the same emotions that she had been through as an immigrant.

As the performance ended we had to express ourselves with the help of the 5 human senses.

It was probably the easiest task in my whole life because all the transferred emotions were so real and powerful that one could simply let out the impressions gained through the "acting".

Shebana was listening very carefully to all of our comments, even though she has had much bigger audiences.

I was touched then and I am super excited now as I get a chance to thank her for being an absolute part of my mind for over 40 minutes which will remain with me for a lifetime.

Being from a country which throughout its history has always been at the edge of being occupied and destroyed I could feel each and every word she was expressing.

I am pretty sure I am not the only one who got moved by her performance and story.

Apparently she has influenced many young and old people, no matter whether they were familiar with colonization struggles or not.

Henrietta

He escuchado ritmos que parecían nuevos y a la vez familiares, como si los hubiera olvidado hace mucho.
Los movimientos fluidos me resultaban más conocidos que los míos propios.
Me ha ayudado a reconectar con mis raíces gitanas.
Pablo