Maritel… emigrant
by Pacho Coulchinsky
Following the beautiful story published by our beloved Lola Minister, "The Dove Club", the ineffable Bogo Pecnikar spoke of a quality that street photographers must not forget: serendipity, understood as a valuable find that is produced accidentally or by chance. Anyway, I don't believe in chance, I see causality.
An event that filled my life with happiness a few days ago I think is the result of serendipity.
Here's the story:
A few days ago I received a message from Maritel: “would you like to take a photo of me here in my birth town? I will soon be returning to Winnipeg because I start working on a new production, and I would like a photo for posterity somewhere in Reconquista.”
What a surprise: we had met in 2018, after having seen each other again in 2016 after almost four decades.
In the mid eighties I was an University student studying Architecture at the Cordoba University (Argentina) and she was a ballerina with the Ballet de Cordoba, the second city in my country. Once, our paths crossed by chance, and we couldn’t remember if it was in Cordoba or in Buenos Aires, (with the passing of time my memory is not the same), however, I do remember that she told me about her plans to follow up her passion for dance and travel to Canada.
We experienced childhood with the freedom of playing totally safe in the streets of our small town. We had after school activities that our parents gave us to try and improve the education of their children, not much in a small place. The girls took dance lessons, some of them by obligation, others to explore a possible vocation. At the end of the year the girls demonstrated what they had learned… or not, at the end of the year Recital that took place at the "Teatro Reconquista".
On that stage we saw "majas españolas", bullfighters, "bailaoras", black and white swans (or whatever fabric was available), Cinderellas and other characters, the dance moms were happy … and nervous, the boys anxious to watch the girls dancing on stage, a situation very different from the every day life. (You must understand…) Let’s say that times have changed and bullying today carries a “death sentence”, but at that time we weren’t so civilized and the laughs and jokes were uncontrolled. But, when the small Maritel was on stage we were all speechless and quiet: something different happened up there.
Then, she was 17, the "Institute Superior de Arte del Teatro Colon" accepted her on a scholarship, the "Ballet Oficial de Cordoba" as a member, and from there to the "National Ballet School of Canada" as a student teacher, while dancing tango to make a living during her student years. Over the years, she collaborated in many dance projects and performances. Flamenco became her new passion and she travelled several times to Spain, the cradle of the art form, organizing an educational trip for her students.
Currently she is a teacher at the "Royal Winnipeg Ballet School", and runs her own Spanish dance program. She is creating a new work for a contemporary dance company called "Nafro", and also choreographing for a performance that will be presented next December 2021.
The love and care for her parents makes her come to Reconquista with more frequency, the ties that bind are still there.
It is very hard to be an immigrant, my only brother emigrated to another country, great childhood friends are scattered around the world. Argentina ... perhaps the country that received the most immigrants in the late XIX and early XX, expelled millions of people in recent decades, you can find an Argentine around the corner: take care ... (don't worry, I'm just kidding). I could one of them, scholarship in hand or various proposals. But my scruples always held me back: “What right do I have to enjoy a state of well-being in which I have contributed nothing to build it?” ... but, fortunately, not everyone thinks that way. All my migrant friends have contributed all their talents and much more to the societies in which they have been inserted.
You may think: "This is not Street Photography" ... maybe it is, but having a camera in hand to tell a story that surprises you is something inexplicable, the springs that move between the photographer and the photographed are unfathomable.
The thread that weaves the fabric of life, may be thinner at times, but not broken. These small grand moments that continue writing our life stories give life the vibration of etertnity.
Pacho Coulchinsky
Reconquista, November 2021
Dancer: Geneviève LaTouche
Choreographer: Maritel Centurion
