Brasil Blog 2: Saudade

Tuesday 21st July 2009

Blog Category: Brasil Blog

There is a word in Brasil which is ‘saudade’ which has no direct translation into English. It means nostalgia for things that haven’t yet happened. How cool is that?!

The official conference opening happened last night. We all sang the song that has been specially composed to commemorate Boal, his life and his influence. It was great to be a part of an international chorus. Jez was on the front row, Tim on the second and Matt on the back.

During the day we watched many videos of work happening with brick makers in Pakistan, Jana Sanskriti in India who work with over 20,000 people, prison work in Germany and working with gangs in Canada. Jez asked David Diamond the director of Headlines Theatre if he was intimidated by working with gang members. David said he wasn’t.

In the evening we heard from Rosa Luisa Marquez from Puerto Rico who spoke about the early years of working with Augusto. I met Rosa in 1993. She is an inspirational artist. It is great to meet up with her again.

During the launch party Jez ‘worked the room’ and we now have several leads for buying combat gear.

Matt:  I took a break from the conference for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  I walked down to the old centre of the city. I wanted to soak up the feeling of being in Rio. The heat, the noise.  There were a lot of shops on the way. All I could think about was combat gear.

Jez: I might ask David if he knows how I could join a gang today.

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