KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

Chile’s cel­e­brat­ed An­tuma­pu Folk­loric Bal­let will make its Caribbean de­but lat­er this month with a per­for­mance at Queen’s Hall, Port of Spain, on Sep­tem­ber 30 at 6.30 pm.

Chilean Am­bas­sador Hernán Núñez Mon­tene­gro said the event marks the en­sem­ble’s first ap­pear­ance in the Eng­lish-speak­ing Caribbean.

“This is a mile­stone for a group that has cap­ti­vat­ed au­di­ences world­wide for over five decades,” he said.

Found­ed in 1971 at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Chile, An­tuma­pu has be­come a cul­tur­al am­bas­sador for the coun­try. The group has per­formed at more than 3,000 shows at home and toured in­ter­na­tion­al­ly on over 35 oc­ca­sions.

In T&T, An­tuma­pu will present Chiliche (Peo­ple of Chile), a pro­duc­tion that pays trib­ute to the na­tion’s peo­ple through a fu­sion of po­et­ry, mu­sic and tra­di­tion­al dance.

“The per­for­mance will trans­port au­di­ences across Chile’s di­verse land­scapes—from the arid At­a­ca­ma Desert to the lush val­leys and windswept Patag­o­nia—re­flect­ing the rich­ness of Chile’s ge­og­ra­phy and cul­ture,” the am­bas­sador added.

The troupe’s pro­duc­tions, in­clud­ing Chiliche, have been de­scribed as scenic and mov­ing, invit­ing au­di­ences to con­nect with the spir­it of the Chilean peo­ple and their his­to­ry.

The group ex­pressed par­tic­u­lar ex­cite­ment about per­form­ing in T&T, recog­nis­ing the coun­try’s rep­u­ta­tion as a hub of artis­tic cre­ativ­i­ty.

“Trinidad’s au­di­ences are known for their warmth and open­ness to dif­fer­ent cul­tur­al ex­pres­sions,” Núñez Mon­tene­gro said.

“The dancers are al­so ea­ger to ex­pe­ri­ence the is­land’s vi­brant tra­di­tions first­hand, in­clud­ing the world-renowned sound of the steel pan.”

The Port-of-Spain ap­pear­ance is the re­sult of more than a year and a half of plan­ning led by the Em­bassy of Chile. The ini­tia­tive re­ceived par­tial sup­port from Chile’s Min­istry of For­eign Af­fairs through its Di­vi­sion of Cul­tur­al Af­fairs, along with con­tri­bu­tions from lo­cal spon­sors.

Au­di­ences are in­vit­ed to join An­tuma­pu for an evening of dance, mu­sic and sto­ry­telling—a unique op­por­tu­ni­ty to ex­pe­ri­ence the spir­it of Chile on stage in Trinidad. Ad­mis­sion is free, with tick­ets avail­able at the Queen’s Hall box of­fice.