#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. For several days, at The Region is Our Common Home festival’s various venues in Norilsk, the city residents and guests got acquainted with the identity of the peoples living in the city.
As many as 16 national and cultural associations of the city shared their traditions, folklore, rituals and national cuisine.
The festival events were designed for adults and children. Folk games, educational quizzes, meetings and immersion in the national flavor of the peoples who live, work and raise their children in the northern city.
The Norilsk drama theater also greeted guests with bright national flavor on the National Unity Day’s eve. Gradually, the big national holiday smoothly transformed into the Arts Night. The festival venues The Region is Our Common Home occupied almost the entire theater space, from the first to the third floor.
The main event of the festival was the charity performance Caravanserai, in which representatives of 16 national and cultural associations of the city took part.
“The performance Caravanserai is about the connection between traditions and modernity. This is a story about the fact that all traditions have a common grain that unites people through the years, through the centuries. The production consists of two parts. One is documentary, when people in their national language and through their personal stories talk about their cultures, rites, rituals, and the other is the rites and rituals themselves, the beauty and depth of which representatives of national cultures were ready to share with the audience.
Caravanserai connects the past with the present and shows that peoples have a lot in common. People, in essence, have the same goals and objectives in this life: love, creating a family, having children, caring for parents. This is the single grain that should unite, not separate. We are all similar, and this echoes in traditions. The symbol of unification is a round dance, with which the performance begins and ends”, said Timur Fairuzov, the Polar drama theater’s director.
We will add that a caravanserai is a public space, a building that served as a shelter and a stop for travelers and traders. This is a place where different cultures intersected and, willingly or unwillingly, they exchanged stories, had a dialogue and learned about the world.
“Was it difficult to work with non-professional actors? There are always difficulties. For example, when you get used to being understood at a half-word, when you speak the same language with professional actors. You simply set tasks, and the actors carry them out. We worked on the performance for about a month and a half. For national and cultural associations, this is an opportunity to show their talents: choreographic, vocal, theatrical, poetic and do it through the prism of their traditions”, added Timur Fairuzov.
Each of the non-professional actors was greeted with applause, support and encouragement from the heart. The final performance of the 16 national and cultural associations’ representatives became the brightest event of the day and made the audience applaud standing. The artists came out on stage in a big round dance, and gradually it captured the audience, and the song about the North and friendship between people of different nationalities, united by the harsh but sincere Norilsk, brought tears to many.
After the performance, people immersed themselves in the Arts Night with its interesting master classes and educational platforms.
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Text: Maria Sanina, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
