Earlier this month, ‘Historias’ was selected as one of the nominees to the cultural award Gullsekken 2021 for the category Best Tour Production. Together with Piero Issa, Jon Tombre, Fahil Anweri, Even Børsum and Nicolai Lopez, Safemuse’s resident artist Carlos Catun (aka. Gato) has been on tour and visited schools across Norway with a personal and dynamic production combining documentary screening (“Bboy for life”, 2012), and live performance and conversation with the students. ‘Historias’ is centred around the intertwined stories of three dancers and how it ultimately brought them together. 

The Guatemalan breakdancer Gato (Carlos Catun) brings his experiences from life in the streets of Guatemala City into the performance. Gato was forced to leave his home country following death threats from Guatemalan street gangs. After several years on the move, his long journey to safety finally came to an end when Gato, in 2019, moved to Norway as a Safemuse resident artist. Over the years, Gato has established close ties with the breakdance milieu in Norway and engaged in numerous collaborative projects with other artists and dancers. Safemuse resident coordinator Nicolai Lopez has been an important engine behind the ‘Gato-process’.

‘Historias’ was launched as part of the artistic program for Den Kulturelle Skolesekken (DKS) (loosely translated as “the cultural school bag”) – a national scheme established in 2001 to promote and disseminate art and culture to children and youth throughout Norway. Gullsekken 2021 recognises the achievements of art- and cultural practitioners in Norway, and the nomination of ‘Historias’ is a testament to the production’s high artistic quality and impact on its audiences. 

“We were actually called by many schools afterwards because they had to tell us how intensely the performance had moved their students.”

-DKS nomination statement

In their nomination statement for ‘Historias’, DKS wrote: 

“It was a powerful experience for the students who received a visit by the production team to first see the gripping documentary, and then meet one of the main characters live in the classroom, see him dance and hear him tell his story. We were actually called by many schools afterwards because they had to tell us how intensely the performance had moved their students. That is not a daily occurrence for us in the DKS-team.”

On the 20th of October, DKS announced the two winners of Gullsekken 2021: Marja Mortensson Trio and Lost and Found Productions. Safemuse congratulates the winners, as well as the nominees – all of whom have effectively reached out to youth in their own unique ways, created magical cultural experiences in schools and provided students with an opportunity for reflection through music and performing arts.