As an introduction to the trajectory of the Arantxa Hirigoyen motor culture.

It is true that I have been immersed in Basque culture since I was young, because at home I have always lived that environment and those from home have pushed me to it. Like many young people of the time, I studied music, I also participated in the Txistu and the Izartxo group of Uztaritz, as here there was no group of dances in Larresoro. Then I entered the Ote Lore society, founded by the Burasans, as a children's and youth association, and today as a member. Through Ote Lore we propose various cultural acts in the people, linked to the Basque and the culture. The objective is to propose several quotes in the same town and in Basque, whether theatre, bertsolarism, kantaldi, etc. It is true that I have always immersed myself in that environment, because for me it is an environment that goes by itself. I believe that in that time, in the 1980s, many cultural associations were created in many villages, because it was necessary to unite a space. I recall that the Labortana Assembly also emerged in Uztaritze, on the pretext of bringing these associations and peoples together every year. Those moments, like the moments of vindication I've lived, organizing a concert or anything else at the time was a vindictive act. Today, although the situation is still complicated, Basque culture is more widely accepted. Yeah, I've lived that militant environment.

Today the Ote Lore association is still, it has been 35 years old, we continue to organize the usual appointments, as necessary as ever. And it's that our people are growing up with more and more people coming from outside. That is when we need to retake our customs, our citations and the obvious thing is that we have to give our place to the Basque country.

The Basque country also has a great space in your life.

Yes, it goes on its own. I'm from Euskal Herria, I'm from Euskaldun, Euskera is very important and that from the beginning, because my parents decided to take him to the ikastola. All my studies I've done in Seaska to the terminal. Then I wanted to continue studying in Euskera and I had the opportunity to go to Baiona School, but because it is time to leave the house, I decided to go to San Sebastian to study Basque philology.

The trajectory that I have followed, in teaching or otherwise, is always related to Euskera. It is also true that I have always been clear that I wanted to work in Euskera and I have achieved it because I returned to Seaska as a professor to teach the subject of Euskera and literature. So, learn Basque, teach, teach Basque and live in Basque in an easy way.

Now you set in motion a new experience that brings together the three hobbies, theater, Euskera and education.

I mean, in this new stage, I'm going to put all three together. After 17 years of teaching, I decided to stay for a year. to work with the collective. This group, created by the brothers Manex and Ximun Fusch, wants to be a tool to make theater in Euskera. Joining the collective, we will propose a new field related to teaching or education, a place for theater and mediation work. My job is going to be working with the schools, working the theater, developing it, proposing workshops. We believe that education and theater are two different worlds but very close. Both are needed, the school of the latter, is a place of transmission where students receive many things, but also where they give it; as a place of transmission, art and, therefore, theater has its place in school, no doubt.

What does theater bring in a class?

The contributions of the theater are varied and are also known at different levels, especially for this audience, the young people, are very positive contributions; first to the body, to the attitude, to the voice: they learn in front of the public, speak in front of their peers, they gain more trust, they are awakened by the creative work and it brings them many other benefits. I think theatre is something magical, in the workshops that I have made I have seen a great evolution in the liceo among the young people who start their work in September and who in May present a show, that is the magic. Today’s society does not give us time to think, to reflect, much less to young people … On the other hand, in this intimate space, in which they are offered this possibility, knowing that theatre is something interior, what moves us or not, is also beneficial for young people and for the classroom. You can do a workshop with those you want, with the most motivated but you can also work the theater with an entire class and that I think is good on a cultural level, to make the theater known and to make the theater live in a room.

What is the importance of creativity in the education of a child?

Before I said, in today's society and especially in young people, we are living to the limit, we don't take time, we are always rushed, if we don't love one thing we go to another. Creativity offers us the opportunity to get out of this reality, to reflect, to reflect on different themes, to think and, above all, to see young people in what world we live in. In fact, theatre can address various themes, generate debates, reflections, and that is important and necessary in today's society. Even more so in education, art in general or theater in general is an important place. We need to create creative labs in schools. They have labs in physics or biology to make experiences. I believe that these kinds of spaces are also necessary for art and, from time to time, from the ikastola loves. I'm not saying it's not done because there are already interesting projects, but I think they should go into the résumé of young people so that they have an evolution from ikastola to liceo. Creativity brings many things to anyone.

And what is the importance of education in developing a child's creativity?

Education can provide you with tools for creativity, writing, both oral and written in the learning process. On the other hand, a teacher, in the way of imparting the class, can also be linked to creativity, since the exercises or activities he proposes can derive from ordinary creativity. And there you do it with a stone two birds: you work on education, you transmit a knowledge and you work on time to give the students what they have; creativity can be an exercise or a game. And it can be in Basque or in languages, but also in the field of history or mathematics, although it is difficult to do so, because the teachers are attached to the program. I think we have to work, that freedom a little bit.

I don't know all the educational models, I know SEASKA's, and I think there are ways to work education or develop it. You don't have to dazzle, it's true that seeing the conditions of today it's not always possible to bring everything we want rex, by number of students or by others, but we have to make room to bring creativity or art to the classrooms. It's amazing to see what artists our young people are, they're creators, they have a lot of skills. We realize that they have a lot to contribute, at the musical level, singing, dancing, etc. That's why it's important to make that site. Another question may be whether it is a field that occurs in or outside the classroom. But to start in school, in school, you have to devote a space to that creativity and that is not something imposed, but something that has come by itself, that is proposed to those interested. It would also be enough for students to take a play or a film in Euskera once a year, projects that are already done many but not only to take a commercial show. Because then it's interesting to work what you've seen in the classroom, you can also get into the creative process and it's necessary for the students.

Will you carry out mediation in this new project?

Yes, I believe that this work is necessary, because it is not enough to go to see a play, it is also necessary that it be done in the theater of the elaboration of that play, before or after. A meeting between students, spectators, playwrights or artists will have a greater impact if it is held in the classroom. One of the objectives we have at Axpe is precisely to bring this elaboration and to offer teachers a tool, a pedagogical report. We have already prepared this pedagogical report on the new work The Blue Horse, which the teachers can find on the web before or after seeing the work, if they want to work in class with their students. The report will include various materials, such as verses, articles, texts, reporters, films etc. It is a way of dealing with the issue with children, but you can also go further, organize a meeting with dramatists, writers, go to see a chorus, bring a reflection, …

I, in this section, as a professor, felt a void, a shortage in Euskera. A lot of material can be found in French theatre works, but in Basque it is little or nothing and that is fundamental; if we want to work on the subject, we have to offer tools to both teachers and students. This will therefore be one of our main areas.

How important is language in this debate?

We attach the utmost importance to Euskera, it is very positive that these kinds of workshops are held in Euskera, so that young people see that Euskera is not just a language of class, it is not a language of a subject, but you can enjoy it in Euskera, you can have a good time, you can create it, you can invent it. And I think it's up to us to create models for our boys and girls to have models in Euskera, for them to think, for them to think, for them to live, for them to live in Euskera, for going to see a theater in Euskera is not something special, an exception. To watch theater or movies in Basque you don't have to be waiting, there's a lot of work to do, but if you want to live in Basque, you need models, models in Basque. Our models will also tell our story.

Is child care higher in a normal class or in a theater workshop?

I think they prefer theater workshops to classes, but it also depends on how you bring the class. In fact, giving class can be something that's very much about theater. When you arrive, the audience looks at you, you have to draw attention. It is true that they do not always want to come and maybe they would like to have it somewhere else, but from the teacher's point of view, giving class is something related to theater. I have experienced two kinds of experiences: to project plays in an entire class and to do workshops on their own. With the whole classroom, it's true that it's harder, because of the number of students and because some don't like it very much, so they see something imposed. In the workshops organized outside the classrooms, there is no doubt, another relationship emerges, we are no longer teachers or students in a class, and there, in fact, I have seen very interesting and rich evolutions. Before I said it's a magical thing to create something, those young people always have something that they hold until the last moment and all of a sudden what they give on stage.

What are the theater plays that you expect with your students?

Knowing that they are students of the Lyceum, that is, young people 15-17 years old, we try to select the themes that interest them, the social ones, those related to adolescence. First I write the text but then we always share it, we draw notes and as a theatrical text can move constantly as it is alive, we take into account its contributions and we rebuild it. I think it has to be a journey to create that magic between the students and the public. These are other stages before we give the text, exercises, warms, to create an environment in which we can get to know each other and then elaborate the text.

He's been looking for treasures. He discovered the dictionary of Maurice Harriet (1814-1904).

At the end of the studies, I wanted to delve deeper into the field of research and decided to make the thesis. I decided to investigate the dictionary of a Haltsuar, the priest Maurice Harriet. In the middle of the century XIX.garren, he wrote a French-Basque dictionary that was never published, so it is a manuscript. I chose three letters from that manuscript and rewrote them, and I also worked on the history of the Basque language, an interesting piece of work that lasted for four years, a pretty lonely piece of work, in which some people around me didn't understand how hours could pass in front of a dictionary, but I really liked it.

 

 

That dictionary by Maurice Harriet, then Land used it a lot to make theirs. That's also interesting, and the usual question is why Harriet didn't publish theirs in his publication time? Now I guess it's still in the same place as usual, in the Episcopal House of Baiona, well kept, under a bed, so I found it. However, it has to be said that it is microfilmed. They're very large leaves, and eventually the ink gets lost.

In today's society, we are living in ruin, especially young people. Creativity offers us the opportunity to get out of this reality to think, to rest.

How do you value immaterial heritage? What is to be retained, what is to be rejected?

For me, the word "heritage" already has a sense of the past, as something outdated, as something material, as buildings. In my opinion, immaterial heritage is not what we excite, but what we feel, like the Basque or the theater, and for me that is necessary.

I believe that intangible heritage should not end up in a showcase, as in a theatre exhibition. Of course it can be done, but for me that immaterial is as important as material, more important -- and in that transmission, creativity is fundamental. That is what is evident for the heritage to live and be preserved in general.

Do you cross the border of Dantxarinín easily?

I come from Euskal Herria and I go smoothly to Navarre, to Gipuzkoa, etc., on the one hand because I have family in all of Euskal Herria and I have always gone from one side to the other naturally. My mother is from Amaiur, from Baztan, that also makes things easier, in our house there have never been limits.

Education and theater are two different but very close worlds, both of which need each other.

Are you also going to cross with the new project?

Of course, that is one of the goals. In this mediation work we want to work with centers from all over Euskal Herria. We have presented to several centres the teaching work we are carrying and there will certainly be a succession. As we work in Euskera, the objective is to extend ourselves to the whole of the Basque Country, in addition to the fact that there they do not work with force as here many aspects, so this exchange will certainly be enriching and necessary.

How does this town treat artists for you?

Certainly, artists are not in good condition. When the lack of money is economic, we know where it comes from first, from culture. And working in very poor conditions of who suffers the consequences, even more so, the artists who work in Basque. But on the other hand, when we're wrong, the situation forces us to improve somewhere, and the struggle is always there, in my opinion, more for artists, for those who live from it.

Back to the theater, it's been onstage.

It was a very nice experience.

8 years ago we created the Ama bi group with our colleague Maialen Fautoux. The project had a special starting point. That year I did a workshop at the lyceum and Maialen helped me. It happened very well and I told him that I wanted to continue next year, but that I couldn't because I was pregnant. Then he said to me that he was also pregnant. From then on we decided to prepare a play about pregnancy. We went into that and we gave the Tripakiak theater play, where we were really pregnant. We spent four or five times in November of that year, when the children were founded in December. It was a great adventure, a kind of pocket theater. We didn't invent anything new, but we put together work on the very universal issue of pregnancy, starting from those crises that we hear in the smell. Our goal was not to teach a lesson, but to excite people a little, to give them what we live and, surely, what many other mothers live on the stage, with humor.

 

 

Then the children arose and we soon believed that this also deserved continuity, day by day with a small child, etc. And the second job, Amakiak, about motherhood. There, we didn't invent anything either, but we created a theater play from our experiences. Then we also gave the third one to round our project; we wrote Amatur, because with the play of words we were mothers and also mothers. There was more about youth, about adolescence, about relationships between mother and child. And we ended our adventure on that. Bizki was a nice experience, with pocket-sized, unadorned, short-lived theater format, we put everything in our trucks, and we walked through different villages, it was great.

The contributions of the theatre are very varied, at different levels, especially for young people, are very positive.

Now sometimes, we mention following, we have ideas, but it's hard because we're in different things. But the idea is there, and we'd like to do something else in that format. It was special, it was the first time I stepped on the stage, but it was my mother's character, it was my character, and I don't know to what extent fiction and reality blended. If we do more now, we would do it under the gaze of the wives, but always with some humor.

I believe that here in the Basque Country there is a public for all kinds of theatre; here in the Basque Country for example, the amateur theatre has a lot of strength, it is enough to see that there are many diversions, masked, ceremonies of tobera. I think there's room for theater, popular or not.

Mother at home, on the table, working… Has it been easy to take all aspects?

At that time it was the fourth one I had in the womb, so the easiest thing was to manage... I do not know how, but it is done, by signing an agreement with those of the house. It is true that it is a good idea for family members to join the project and offer them help. Sometimes it's better not to think about how you do it, otherwise I'd be scared. Move forward as possible, but stick.

Precisely, now that children are growing up, I really want to start well in this new work, to immerse myself in what I feel like and to make my way.

Did I finally want to answer a question that I have not postponed?

Perhaps we can talk about the new work of the Haurrok group, or Axut! The collective also said it more… but it would be too long, so there it is!