01. July 2026

Visit by renowned Bolivian theatre company 'Teatro de los Andes' Addressing questions of cultural heritage, memory, Indigenous knowledge systems, artistic expression

Addressing questions of cultural heritage, memory, Indigenous knowledge systems, artistic expression

The Department of Anthropology of the Americas invites you to participate in an upcoming series of cultural events featuring the renowned Bolivian theater group 'Teatro de los Andes', taking place in Bonn throughout October and November 2026.

The program includes the German premiere of 'Pallay', a multidisciplinary performance inspired by Indigenous Andean textile traditions, as well as a concert and a workshop centred on Andean music, ritual practices, and community-based forms of knowledge. Their guest visit offers an opportunity to engage with questions addressing cultural heritage, memory, Indigenous knowledge systems, artistic expression, and the relationships between past, present, and future. These notions are highly relevant to the research carried out by the BCDSS, for example by principal investigator Carla Jaimes Betancourt.

The ‘Teatro de los Andes’ is one of the most important theatre companies in Latin America. It was founded in August 1991 in the small village of Yotala, near Sucre, Bolivia. A group of young actors from Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Italy worked daily in physical and vocal techniques: acrobatics, indigenous and oriental dances, improvisation, martial arts. This intensive training and creation process resulted in productions that made Bolivian theatre internationally famous. The company has increasingly focused on researching indigenous expressions, languages and rituals of the Bolivian highlands. Today, Gonzalo Callejas – actors of Quechua origin from the north of Potosí – Alice Guimaraes, Lucas Achirico and other comrades-in-arms work on a theatre that interweaves cultural identity, bodywork and musical tradition in a contemporary way. 

Bonn has a special relationship with the ‘Teatro de los Andes’, which is kept alive by the city partnership between Bonn and La Paz. Since November 2009, the Bonn-La Paz-Verein e.V. has organized various performances and German premieres ("En un sol amarillo", "La Odisea", "Mar", "Un buen morir"). Despite the very difficult years 2020- 2024 due to the worldwide Corona restrictions, high inflation, price increases and economic problems in Bolivia, the ‘Teatro de los Andes’ has been able to continue its work and to establish itself through its own productions, multi-day "Residencias" (workshops) and engagements as an actor. 

The 2026 presence of ‘Teatro de los Andes’ in Bonn is supported by the City of Bonn – via the Office for International Affairs and Global Sustainability, as well as by Stiftung Internationale Begegnung der Sparkasse Bonn, Bonner Amerikas-Sammlung Museum BASA and Bonn Center for Dependency and the BCDSS. Other cooperation partners are the Marabu Theatre, the Bühne der Brotfabrik and the Department of Anthropology of the Americas at the University of Bonn.

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Teatro de los Andes.png © Teatro de los Andes
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Discover the full event line-up below

Theater Performance: PALLAY

Date & Time: Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 20:00

Location: Bühne der Brotfabrik, Bonn

Admission: €20 (Regular) / €15 (Reduced)

Language: Performed in Spanish with German surtitles (German Premiere).    

Meaning "to weave, select, or harvest" in Quechua, Pallay is the latest multidisciplinary creation from Teatro de los Andes. Inspired by the textile traditions of the Jalq'a women from the Bolivian highlands, the performance explores the Ukhu Pacha (the inner world of dreams, depths, and spirits). The production seamlessly blends physical, vocal, and visual arts to tell a sensory story of identity, roots, and memory. 

Direction: Gonzalo Callejas
Acting: Gonzalo Callejas with Alice Guimaraes, Bernardino Garzoni di Adorgnano, Lucas Achirico and Bernardo Rosado


Concert: SERENANDO 

Date & Time: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 (19:30)

Location: BASA Museum (Oxfordstraße 15, 53111, Bonn) 

Admission: Free entry (donations are highly appreciated). Please register by October 14!

Language: Spanish with German translation 
 

Serenando is a musical performance dedicated to the indigenous sounds of Northern Potosí and the Yampara culture. The repertoire guides the audience through the Andean seasonal cycle—from Carnival and harvest to the ritual encounters of Tinku and sowing seasons. Between musical pieces, the performers share insights into the spiritual origins and roles of their instruments. 

Musicians: Gonzalo Callejas, Lucas Achirico, Alice Guimaraes, Bernardino Garzoni di Adorgnano, Lucas Achirico and Bernardo Rosado


Theater Training Workshop: YAWAR K’ANCHA

Date & Time:
Thursday, October 22 (Group 1: 9:30-12:30/ Group 2: 17:30 – 20:30)
Friday, October 23 (Group 1: 9:30-12:30/ Group 2: 17:30 – 20:30)

Location: Theaterwerkstatt Marabu, Brotfabrik, Kreuzstrasse 16, Bonn-Beuel

Admission: €60 and €40 (reduced rate) / Please register below! 

Language: Spanish with German translation

This workshop offers a physical and ritual practice developed by Teatro de los Andes as part of its long-standing research into stage expressiveness. Drawing on the principles of theater anthropology, the company looks to its own Andean roots to find the foundations of the theatrical act: the organic connection between mind and body that brings life to the stage.

At its core lies the Tinku—an indigenous ritual festival still practiced today in northern Potosí. Its essence is the symbolic encounter as an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth). In Andean philosophy, complementarity, reciprocity (ayni), and community (ayllu) structure life. The first person is not the “I,” but the “We.”

Building on these principles, the workshop explores “encounter” and “devotion” as the foundations of the theatrical act: being in the here and now, collective presence, and the body’s total availability within a shared space. The practice incorporates elements of the Ayarichi tradition (ritual dancers and musicians of the Yampara culture), accompanied by sikus (Andean pan flutes) and drums.

Workshop leaders: Gonzalo Callejas, Alice Guimaraes, and other members of the Teatro de los Andes

The workshop will be conducted in Spanish with German translation.