by La Comunera

Choreography/Performance: Silvia Ospina | Körper&Medium

Photo documentation: Carlos Collado

on the frame of Kommensalität at @CordilleraBerlin in May 2025

Die Kriegerin merges the symbolic legacy of Andean warrior women with the reality of current wars, highlighting the central and often overlooked role of women in these contexts. Just as in Andean mythology where warrior women are guardians of life, memory, and territory, today’s women in conflict zones continue to be essential protagonists in resistance and reconstruction.

Thus, Die Kriegerin presents a contemporary celebration of the female warrior body, an invocation to that ancient and yet ongoing history written through women’s lives and struggles. The dance honors both the fragility and the indomitable will of those who resist to care, heal, and persist in the face of war.

Female bodies marked by war—invaded, interrupted, and often denied rest—not only reflect trauma but become living instruments of memory and endurance. They bear simultaneously the weight of destruction and creation: carrying the burden of caring for, feeding, and sustaining life even amid devastation. This daily and radical act is a firm refusal of extermination and the persistent “illness” that war represents.

Women fighters, caregivers, community leaders, or displaced persons face violence, loss, and constant threats, yet defend their families, cultures, and territories with a strength comparable to that of the mythical Andean figures. This resistance operates not only physically but also collectively, weaving networks of support and peace building.

This work address the global reality, making visible and dignifying the role of women in contemporary conflicts, their daily resistance, and the fierce strength inscribed in their bodies—between ancestral legacy and the urgency of the present.