Refugio Altagracia | manusdeadance

Refugio de Altagracia

Manusdea offers residences and national and international internships in the Refuge of Alta Gracia, rural headquarters 43 kilometers from Bogotá. Located in the path of Resguardo Bajo, next to the New School, La Baticola sector in Choachí Cundinamarca. This creative space offers those interested in advancing research, training and creation in different branches of the Arts and Sciences to be developed in close connection with the local community, nature and the environment.

Brief historical context According to Miguel Triana he received the poetic name of Ventana de la Luna and Joaquím Acosta defines him as Nuestro Monte Luna.Founded on September 29, 1560. With an average Altitude of 1924 msn and with a temperate climate between 16 and 18 degrees. The Muiscas or Chibchas was one of the American civilizations as important as the Incas and Aztecs. Chiguachie was an Indigenous ancestral territory, which left a cosmogonic and artistic legacy of the relationship of life with the forces and spirits that govern the universe.

Choachí and the community of today

Sites of creative and investigative interest

Inside the park you will find: The Silence lagoon Located in the highest place of the park, that when arriving does not utter a word. The Face of the Indian It is a mysterious viewpoint with an amazing view. Waterfall of the Grandmother It is a small waterfall, approximately 5 meters high, but with abundant vegetation, with pure water falling in the middle of frailejones.

sidewalk of Bobadillas Here you will find places like the Alto del Boquerón, sector of the Peña Azul and the Alto del Quinto, rich in ecological resources and diversity of fauna, flora and landscaping.

Other Sites of Interest

La Chorrera Waterfall It is located in Curí village 35 km from Bogotá, it is the highest in the country with an altitude of 590 meters, which makes it an attraction with great potential. Right here is El Chiflon waterfall, whose land is owned by the Tourism Association of Choachí - La Palma. Ideal places to become an ecological destination that allows the conservation and the scientific and educational use of the destination.

La Y Throughout the length and breadth of Choachí, there are two rivers called Blanco and Negro (black and white) at the point where they are known as the Y, where they mix their waters and increase their flow, which makes for a wonderful spectacle of nature .

Laguna de Sévia It is located in the path Fonté. It is very beautiful and is embedded in the mountain in the eastern sector of the municipality in limits with Chingaza Natural Reserve.

Laguna de Ubaque Not only impressive for its exuberant vegetation and beauty but also for being ceremonial center of the Muisca culture, being this final point of the ritual "Correr la Tierra" where the participants Muisca warriors ventured in a demanding passage through 5 lagoons and Ubaque is one of they. A place with a lot of history, myths and nature.

Festivities and Important Fairs of Choachí Festivity to the Virgen del Carmen, patron saint of travelers and transporters. Passion Week. Corpus Cristi, Agricultural and Cattle Fair. Equine Festival, Fest of Peasant Integration y San Isidro Day, Festivity of Anniversary and Culinary culture.

Matarredonda Ecological Park At 17 Km. On the road that leads from Bogotá to Choachí, in the path La Palma and entering through the path La Victoria, is two (2) hours away on a bridle path, the ecological park of Matarredonda, in the moorland of Cruz Verde between 3,300 and 3,500 meters above sea level. There are streams and rivers like Teusacá, Palmar, San Cristóbal. The Indians called it Kavintuca.

El Refugio de Alta Gracia: TIt has 2000 Mt 2 of green area, fruit trees and organic garden, fertilized with humus produced by Californian worms that are part of our culture. This space is the habitat of a great variety of birds, butterflies and flowers. The White River is 10 minutes from the Refuge. Place of meditation, creation and recreation, 10 minutes from the thermal springs, and 30 minutes by car you will reach the Chorrera, the Páramo Mataredonda and the Laguna de Ubaque. The house: has 200 Mt 2 built, has a garage and an interior terrace. We are neighbors of the "Escuela Nueva Resguardo Bajo", to which we offer free artistic classes. The school is also a space for meetings of the community in general and the Community Action Board of the village.

What we offer to National and International Scholars. That they have a scholarship or a sponsor, to develop projects of creation in DANCE AND PHOTOGRAPHY and want to execute it in a rural context near Bogota in exotic natural settings.

Services
Lodging
Feeding
Work space
Management support for project socialization

Lines of work

Choreographic Direction, Advisory and Tutorial of artistic projects, pedagogical in Research-Creation in Scenic Anthropology.
Studies and Research related to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of our communities, rites, myths and cosmogonies.
Dance and philosophy laboratories of Butoh for a solo dancer or dance and musician duo.
Bharatanatyam dance and philosophy laboratory for one dancer or ballerina couple and musician.
Body and Performance Laboratory
Consulting and Laboratory for the realization of Photographic and Video-Dance projects
Creative and pedagogical projects on Permaculture: agricultural practices and techniques with self-sustainable experiences of food sovereignty, culinary culture, that contribute to the preservation of traditional dishes, organic seeds and non-genetically modified foods, knowledge and conservation of medicinal plants, environmental mingas or sowing, recycling strategies and environmental conservation.

Write to this email manusdeadance@yahoo.es
and tell us which Residence is of your interest
we will send you cost information.

Project: Butoh Lab "The Metamorphosis"
Place: Refuge of Alta Gracia / Choachí-Cundinamarca
Year: 2016
Choreographer: Brenda Polo
Photographs: Ernesto Monsalve
Performances: La Chorrera, El Chiflón and Río Blanco

Barter Modality

The Chibchas exchanged their products through Barter, which is a product exchange operation without the intervention of the currency. These Barters were made locally and with foreign clans. These operations had a magical character presided over by solemnities and ceremonials. These practices survived even in the times of the colony where they were prohibited from free trade.

We are interested in promoting the "Trueque" of Knowledge among national and international experts, who want to share an Artistic or Scientific project that can be developed in the Altagracia Refuge with the children of the Bajo Resguardo School, in the safeguarding and dissemination of the intangible cultural heritage of Colombia and humanity, renewing their mythical or cosmogonic expressions in intercultural dialogue. Through stage presentations, exhibitions, talks, seminars, training and creation workshops, free of charge.

In Barter

Lodging

Refuge Work Space.
Support in the dissemination and socialization of the project.

Rupestre Painting has been made a first work of research and cataloging of rock art of this municipality by the Ministry of Culture. A set of murals, panels and motifs of 29 sites with pictographs in the villages of Quuza, El Hato, Villa Nueva, Resguardo Bajo and La Victoria. The presence of rock art in the municipality of Choachí makes it clear that the region was occupied, as in other areas around the Sabana de Bogotá, in periods not yet determined, by different ethnic groups (Preceramic, Preclassic Muisca) and most likely by various Chibcha groups at the time.