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Mexican Artistic director Jorge Diaz created a unique selection of bedtime stories for his son.
Putting aside famous books like “Pinocchio,” they read stories closer to home. Among his favorites was the Popol Vuh, a collection of sacred Maya myth.
“It’s important to remember those stories,” said Diaz, whose grandmother told her legends of her Indigenous ancestry during her childhood. “We have a lot of beautiful, pre-Hispanic stories. But we sometimes forget.”
The joy he enjoyed with his son tells the story of the hero twins Ixbalanque and Hunahpu.
In Popol Vuh, the brothers embark on a dangerous journey into the Maya underworld. There, they overcome death, confront its masters and ultimately emerge transformed.
The myth inspired Diaz’s adaptation, “Mortal Leap into Xibal’a.” Blending circus arts with theatre, it uses acrobatics and ritual to re-imagine the ancestral story on stage.
Diaz said, “We tried to give the piece its own identity through the circus, but I didn’t want the work to rely solely on tricks or spectacle.” “The idea was to blend the techniques with the story and characters, to create atmosphere rather than just show off skills.”
The show has returned to the stage periodically since its debut in 2023. New demonstrations held Mexico City At the end of November.
Circus as storytelling
The troupe behind “Mortal Leap Into Xibal’a” was founded 20 years ago by Diaz and fellow artist Jessica Gonzalez. Initially a theater company, “Transito Cinco” evolved into a group dedicated to circus arts.
“Coming out of university, we searched for tools that could allow us to grow as actors,” said Gonzalez, who also serves as a narrator in a Maya myth production. “We wanted to find something that could combine theater with dance and make the circus a meeting place.”
His current repertoire consists of 16 productions. There is no common topic between them. Yet Diaz and Gonzalez aim to create pieces with a clear narrative thread.
“Our shows are built around a theme or story,” he said. “We believe circus art can also be a way to say something, whether it’s about social issues or any other topic.”
How they work together with artists is reflected in “Somnia”, a documentary about the history and vision of Transito Cinco.
“It’s one of the most impressive art forms I’ve ever seen,” director Areli Cantelano said during a recent screening of his film. “It opens the doors to many different arts and invites us all to participate.”
Circus as ritual
In addition to adapting the Maya myth and directing fellow artists, one of Diaz’s tasks in “Mortal Leap into Xibal’a” is to manipulate the work. That is, as Yareli Reyes performs hanging from a rig by her hair, Diaz oversees her safety.
His performance is close to Diaz’s heart. She plays one of the Maya twins, a role the director had once envisioned for herself.
Her brother – also an actor – plays the lead character in the Maya-inspired piece and Diaz dreamed of performing with him. “I love that piece of Popol Vuh,” he said. “I felt it was important to make it on stage together.”
He left this role so that he could avoid overburdening himself. But viewing his beloved sacred story from a distance gives him a new understanding of his art.
He said, “The circus has the power to surprise and to play with risk.” “When I catch the artist doing the hair suspension, there are moments when I see the lights, the atmosphere and it feels like a ritual.”
Many scenes seem full of energy. The way music, light and the bodies of the performers merge into stagecraft creates an intense environment for the audience, he said.
“It’s fantastic,” marketing strategist Alba Vida said of Transito Serco’s work after a recent screening of her documentary. “I like circus arts because they change the boundaries of entertainment.”
a story of rebirth
Diaz’s son is now 14 years old. However, the work, inspired by his exploration of Nights in the Maya Underworld, is still targeted towards children and families.
For one hour, “Mortal Leap into Xibalba” depicts the twins’ journey between the realm of the living and the underworld. The performance begins with how the brothers are born after their mother becomes pregnant with their father’s skull spit into her hand, a symbolic transference of life.
The twins are raised among humans. Yet when they learn to play a pre-Hispanic ritual game that enrages Xibalba’s lord, several fights ensue and the pair are ultimately destroyed – only to return transformed in the final cycle of the myth.
“Under the Mayan worldview, death is not an end, but a chance for rebirth,” Diaz said. “So when they throw themselves into the fire as a sacrifice, they become the sun and the moon.”
Conveying how the ancient Maya saw death as a possibility to re-invent oneself is as important to Díaz as the attention to detail in his collaborators’ risky, spectacular actions.
“There are many elements of pre-Hispanic indigenous traditions that can be brought into circus performances,” he said. “Ways of using them, reinterpreting them and giving them new meaning on stage.”
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Associated Press religion coverage is supported by the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.