El proceso de investigación del espectáculo «En Tierra de Nadie» se basó en la intervención con adolescentes (con diversas realidades socioeconómicas) y con personas migrantes en riesgo de exclusión social.

One of the premises of this research process for the creation of the dramaturgy of the show was to narrate and tell real stories, denouncing the continued non-compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to recover the theaters and the street as spaces of vindication.

1 weekly session was held with groups of adolescents in the educational stages of 4th ESO, 1st and 2nd Baccalaureate and the inclusion of the Aula TEA, from November 2021 to June 2022. The work dynamics were based on individual and collective reflection with dance as a connecting vehicle, with the aim of learning about the realities of the migrant population, refugees or inequalities in the world.

This process resulted in a short performance that was staged at the school for the entire educational community.

Fundación ProVivienda was the first partner association, an institutionalized assistance association for migrants, where we were provided with informative sessions given by a professional team covering the legal status of people migrating to our country, as well as reception actions. Omar Meza developed workshops with users who were mostly people from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

In some cases, they did not speak the language and there were also social barriers due to the culture of origin. The age range included a wide intergenerational spectrum, from children to the elderly. One of the biggest challenges we encountered in these workshops was the lack of continuity of the users from one workshop to the next, making it very difficult to make more or less progressive progress in the intervention.

After this experience, we made contact with the Solidarity School Foundation, an association located in the Sierra Elvira region (Granada), barely 20 kilometers from the city center. Its form of organization differs from the previous one, since its nature responds to a project with a more familiar sense. Its facilities or home are made up of a complex of very modest homes, where they also house various self-services such as a nursery, playroom, dining rooms or classrooms for teaching. In addition, they develop various projects and occupations for their users, mostly nationals and foreigners, of different ages and conditions. One of the things that impressed us the most was the heterogeneity of people in decent but modest conditions.

We went to them because we knew that there was a stilt walkers group within the Foundation that performed at events and activities. There we met Dora Fanelli and Ignacio Pereda (Directors of the Center) and Franccesca Massetti and Pablo Bouraschi (Volunteers and coordinators of the stilt walkers group).

In a period of a month and a half, we conducted 5 sessions with young people between 17 and 32 years old, of Moroccan origin. During these sessions we carried out dynamics and exercises of reflection and debate, body expression, psychomotor skills and easy dance exercises. There, we met Abdelmoutaleb S., Aissam E. A., Ismail T., Mohammad G., Reda E. J. and Zouhir C.

During those months prior to the production of "En Tierra de Nadie", the idea of incorporating 2 migrants and people without dance experience to the cast of the production arose, with the intention of creating an inclusive show that would integrate people with and without dance experience/training. Finally, after the realization of the sessions, we selected 2 members to participate in the production "En Tierra de Nadie", which would begin rehearsals in August and would conclude with its premiere in October at the Alhambra Theater in Granada, within the Performing Arts Program for Social Transformation in Andalusia, promoted by the Andalusian Agency of Cultural Institutions (AAICC) of the Ministry of Culture and Historical Heritage of the Andalusian Government.

Their incorporation into the artistic cast would be done under the same conditions as those of a professional person: temporary contract, social security registration, same economic conditions, etc. This also became a challenge, since one of the two selected did not yet have their residence and work permits in force. It was at the beginning of the production rehearsals in August when we realized the magnitude of the challenge we were facing.

Empezaron a aparecer las primeras debilidades del proyecto; nuestra «buena voluntad» y en parte cierta «inconsciencia» eran motivos suficientes para intentar abarcar unas competencias para las cuales no teníamos recursos económicos, conocimientos ni acompañamiento profesional. Durante este proceso, que finalmente no fue acabado por parte de los dos seleccionados, descubrimos y detectamos que, a pesar de nuestros conocimientos en la aplicación del arte y de las artes escénicas en procesos de transformación, existen diferentes niveles de aplicación y también diferentes grados de intervención. Es decir, no es lo mismo el trabajo con personas que ya están establecidas y asentadas en un espacio social, que con personas que aún no han podido hacerlo y que viven en una emergencia personal constante. Mientras que una parte del equipo tenía asimiladas la puntualidad, el compromiso y la responsabilidad (venidas desde una perspectiva social ya asentada), estos usuarios aún tenían carencias en herramientas, costumbres y habilidades en esta sociedad de la que pretendían formar parte.

Therefore, from a self-critical exercise in our organization, we cannot say that the inclusion process failed, but rather that we were not able to make all the necessary means available for this inclusion, given that the performing arts and artistic creation already lack economic and technical means.

Even so, the participation of these two young people in the production during the first two weeks of choreographic creation must be highlighted, since thanks to their stories and testimonies of how they arrived in Spain, how they were received and what they found on their arrival, they gave rise to different scenes and choreographic movements that have been captured in the show for posterity.

At that time of relief, and with two weeks of the creation process advanced, we contacted the Granada Acoge Association, where we met Aziza, social educator in the area of the association's outpatients, who provided us with a list of young people who could fit into the project. After some interviews and dynamics carried out with the company, we incorporated Ibrahima Bangoura, a young man of 18 years of Guinean origin, with a residence and work permit. His incorporation was immediate and his predisposition to creative work was a discovery and an inspiration for the rest of the colleagues. His inclusion in the group was a success, partly because certain basic needs were already covered thanks to his host organization, and also because there was a deep work on the part of social educators to facilitate his autonomous inclusion in our society.

Ibrahima participated in the creative process of the show and traveled with the Company to Sabadell (Catalonia), where he carried out a 14-day artistic residency at LaSala Centro de Artes para las Familias de Sabadell. This residency culminated with the realization of 5 performances for school audiences, where Ibrahima was the protagonist and example for these children and young people, who reflected on the content of the show and were able to engage in a direct dialogue with him, a person of migrant origin in the process of inclusion in our society.

After the premiere of the show at the Alhambra Theater on October 14, 2022 and with the possibility of performing in March 2023, Ibrahima decided not to continue with the Company due to a minor injury and with the motivation to continue training in a training cycle that he was already studying previously, for later inclusion in the professional market. Despite all the inconveniences at the beginning of the project, we can say that the objective of inclusion was completed, showing the children, young people and adult spectators of the show that people, if given the opportunity, can have a full and complete life similar to the rest, regardless of their place of origin. In addition, for our professional team of the Company, it was also a continuous learning experience to work with a person in different conditions than the rest of the participants.

It is worth mentioning that the show "En Tierra de Nadie" has obtained the finalist nomination in the LORCA 2023 Awards (organized by the Academy of Performing Arts of Andalusia) in the categories of Family Show and Female Performer of Contemporary Dance. It has also been part of programs such as the Andalusian Performing Arts Fair held in Palma del Río, the Conference on Inclusion and Migration of the University of Jaén, the International Festival of Music and Performing Arts FIMAE of Linares, and will soon participate in the ASSITEJ Circuit, a national circuit of Performing Arts for Children and Youth.