Afrotempos: creation and displacements in Mesa Farta, by the Pretagô group (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

ABSTRACT

This article, which is part of a doctoral research, reflects on some cosmogonic aspects of Exu, a Yoruban orisha, and his relations with the spectacle Mesa Farta (‘Plentiful Table’), by the theater group Pretagô (Porto Alegre-Brazil). The mythic-philosophical foundations that constitute knowledge of African origins are discussed; scenic strategies developed in the process of creation, that organize a way of thinking about scenic practice itself, based on assumptions distanced from Eurocentric theatrical and performative notions, are identified. It appears that the notion of afrotempo (‘Afro-time’), conceived as a Black strategy for relating to the creation process managed by the group’s artists, enables new approaches to doing and inscribing Black ethics and philosophy in the field of performing arts.

Keywords:
Exu; Black Theater; Performance; Afroreference; Afrotempos.