Transition Theater at Shamanic Boom

Shamanic Boom Festival - Art is a Process

On Friday the 27th of May 2016, a pair of performers set off from their homes in Denver, CO to join their Transition Theater counterparts and give a great show at the annual Shamanic Boom Immersion Festival. Transition Theater gave an intimate and extremely heartfelt performance during the first night of the multi-day event. This is the short adventure as seen by two of the dancers, Lorenzo Martínez and Xitlai.

Musicians Maxell and Jestre Lokkei during the Shamanic Boom set.

Art is a process. The end performance is only a very small portion that most people see. This means that each artistic display has its own series of adventures leading up to the big event.  There is a lot of work that goes into putting on a show, and sometimes the journey to the venue can be equally exciting. From Denver, the Shamanic Boom festival takes place about an hour and a half to the north. Grant Farms hosted the spiritual gathering and brought in participants and "Shamanic Boomers" from the surrounding areas.

On the way from Aurora, CO to Wellington, CO, the two performers made a couple of stops to take advantage of the journey and look for inspiration in unusual ways. The first stop was the Budweiser Brewery of Fort Collins where we learned about the process and history of making beer. Just as I mentioned before, knowing more about the process can help the user better appreciate the end result. This is true in beer, art, and life in general. 

A selfie as we started the Budweiser Brewery tour

After a post-tour picnic, we were off to the next adventure, the Rock Garden of Fort Collins - Colorado´s Stonehenge. With no one around to tell us, "no" we gave ourselves a guided tour around the beautifully sculpted rock formations. We could only admire the final artwork and hypothesize about how the works were created. It was a quick stop before heading out on the road again with renewed inspiration and excitement for the coming show. 

Xitlali and Lorenzo at the entrance to the garden

Xitlali posing with a metal and rock sculpture

Colorado´s Stonehenge

Inside of the dome as it was being prepared for the
Transition Theater performance

We arrived at the festival a short time later and found that it was made up of a tent village for vendors and a separate camping area for festival attendees. It was a very inviting atmosphere in which every person greeted one another with a beautiful smile and willingness to help  in any way. The love and feeling of acceptance by all was perhaps the festival´s greatest quality. 

At the end of about a city block of vendor tents lined with several healing and artistic services a large dome was constructed as the festival began. This building of the structure was, in itself, was yet another example of the brotherly love present in every aspect. Groups of people climbed up and down the dome readying it for the many great performers that were to share their talent during the coming days. Rain began to pour just as the dome was being completed. Technicians, performers, and crew huddled inside the green room tents to the side of the main dome preparing for their upcoming show as the ground became wet around their feet. Everyone seemed in the zone readying themselves for the great show. 

final preparations covering the dome

 Finally everything was in place. It was dark, cold, and wet. The inside of the tent began to fill will the mystic music and visualizations from the Transition Theater. Dancer Lorenzo Martinez entered the makeshift stage of dirt and began a performance channeling emotions of the past. He included the standing audience in her performance walking in between them calling their attention to his passionate story. Martinez pulled a decorative flower from his turban and dance with it appreciating its beauty. His performance ended as his buried the flower, symbolizing his recently departed mother beneath the dirt and peacefully moving to one side. The music and visualizations continued for a while as the audience appreciated the unexpected beauty of Transition Theater.

Transition Theater performs at Shamanic Boom

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