(Can you tell I’m taking advantage of our constant Internet access, which may end tonight?)

Yesterday evening we performed our first show for the community of Mina de Oro in Chincha, in the wide dry soccer field facing the sunset. It was completely magical. Before we began, the kids we’ve been working with showed off their new hula/juggling skills, Mayten introducing them one by one to the crowd. Families streamed in throughout the performance, and adults gasped as much as the kids did, and the niños who’ve tagged along to all our rehearsals narrated what was coming next to anyone who would listen. I watched most of it in silhouette until my entrance as a stilting tree, the fading sun throwing in glowing negative space the shapes of clowns and old men and elements and animals onto the our PVC/canvas backdrop. Perhaps there’s a reason I never wrote a post here about our group dynamic struggles over the past 2 weeks, or the debilitating entire-group sunburn fiasco upon our arrival, or the (many sicknesses), and so on, because ultimately, none of that seemed to matter. Our first show felt like a real manifestation of what we’ve come here to do- to use a bit of lightness and the thrill of performance to break up habitual patterns of living without hope for what can be created out of nothing (hopefully that sentence made some sense, as I said before, there’s no time to go back and edit!). As for the fire show… Suffice it to say that I’ve found something new to occupy my brain in every off moment. Dancing with fire brings some strange-yet-familiar new power into focus…

Two nights ago, when we were all checking in around the dinner table(s), there was a strong current of wanting to rise up out of our collective stress and to remember the essence of why we are here. Mayten stepped in for a moment and told us that we had already done what we had come here to do, and that she and her niños were our true audience. That amidst the extreme challenges of life here and the mountain of work she faces as a strong yet isolated voice for change, our role in bringing a breath of FUN and life to the community as an integral part of fostering wholeness is actually crucial, not something to brush off in our cloud of distractions. Before she left the circle, Mayten said, “You are my statement to this community.”

I still struggle to write something here that will capture what it has meant to me (and to all of us, I am quite sure, though I won’t speak for anyone else) to be in the presence of Mayten and her passion for restoring community from all directions, with total fierce passion for turning the tide away from abuse, neglect, isolation, and fracture towards self-esteem, mutual respect, and restoration of an ability to SEE each other as human. Hopefully I can just beam what that energy has stirred up in me towards all of you, and feel it beaming back… Now it’s time to go clean up La Casa (leaving for Cusco on Tuesday- skipping Arequipa/Puno in favor of more in-depth work where we already have good contacts) and do more workshops and perform at the women’s shelter this afternoon. Sunday is a day off before more work at a bigger shelter on Monday- might be just the right time for spinning fire at the beach and sleeping in the sand.

Cross your fingers that I can manage to get some video up here soon- I want to share some of the movement that goes on here. Love to you all.