An Audio Narration by Paola Bascón 

By the mid-sixteenth century, Europe had established its dominion over the region of the Andes. At this time many resistance movements arose, including the Taki Onqoy. The Taqui Onqoy was not an armed or military resistance, yet nevertheless represented a great threat to the colonial system. Through dance and their invocation of wak’as—holy entities—the Taki Onqoy incorporated the refusal of providing labor to the colonial system. At a time when the whole population of the continent was being drastically diminished under colonial rule, the dancing bodies of the Taki Onqoy opposed the concept of a bodily reduction to labor force—revolting against the usurpation of their territories and collective social bodies. 

CREDITS:

Music by Cergio Prudencio
(Excerpts from “Cantos crepusculares” and “Cantos de tierra”)
Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos (OEIN), Bolivia
Conductor: Cergio Prudencio Sound postproduction: Gabriel Gallardi