La Pola – Ontologies of Women, Movement and Decoloniality

Film screening with performative installation and discursive program
Germany, Colombia 2025

Colonial and patriarchal structures continue to shape the representation of women in dance in Latin America today, limiting their self-determination and visibility. Inspired by Colombian resistance fighter and national heroine Policarpa Salavarrieta (La Pola), XXTanzTheater engages in a transcultural dialogue on colonialism and its lasting effects.

Policarpa Salavarrieta was born around 1795 near Bogotá, arrested in the autumn of 1817, and sentenced to death. To this day she remains a symbol of resistance against Spain’s reconquest of New Granada. The project takes her story as a point of departure to make the strength and courage of women across cultures visible.

The dance film La Pola takes us through different cultures, telling choreographed stories of strong and resistant women. Traditional Colombian dances enter into dialogue with contemporary dance to reflect on identity, self-determination, the body, and women’s knowledge. La Pola brings Central European (colonizing) and Caribbean (colonized) perspectives together on equal footing, enabling a creative dialogue between them.

The film screening is presented as part of a performative installation. Intercultural and multidisciplinary, it reflects and embodies the deconstruction of colonial and discriminatory principles and structures from both artistic and gender-specific perspectives. The installation transcends cultural boundaries, confronts the patriarchal legacy of colonization, and creates space for exchange and reflection, opening new perspectives on women’s history and presence.

La Pola is an international cooperation between XXTanzTheater (Cologne) and the Dance Program of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Universidad del Atlántico, Barranquilla (Colombia), in collaboration with the Master’s Program in Dance Education at the Centre for Contemporary Dance, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (ZZT).

 

Team
Artistic Direction – Choreography: Bibiana Jiménez (D–K)
Project Management Dance Programme UNI-ATLÁNTICO: Tania Iglesias (K)
Project Management ZZT Cologne: Nina Patricia Hänel (D)
Performance Installation: Daniela Riebesam (D), Francesca Merolla (D–I), Viola Cantu (D–I), Ido Grinberg

Dance Film – Dance: Andrea Ariza (K), Valentina Geraldino (K), Mariangel Niebles (K), Daniela Riebesam, Viola Cantu, Ido Grinberg

Film Direction: Diego Insignes (K)
Editing: Bibiana Jiménez, Christoph Wedi (D)
Technical Direction – Performance Installation: Christoph Wedi (D)
Production Management: Asta Nechajute (D)
Press & Public Relations: Neurohr & Andrä (D)

Funded by: Cultural Office of the City of Cologne, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW State Office for Independent Performing Arts, NRW Cultural Secretariat, Ministry of Culture of Colombia (MinCultura), Faculty of Fine Arts, Universidad del Atlántico.

With the kind support of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum and Quartier am Hafen.