ABSTRACT
Delia Zapata Olivella (1926–2001) was both the performance director and an actress for the film Mares de pasión (1961). While she was not the main character, her choreographies grounded gender and blackness as central thematic components in the film, as did most of her folklore research throughout her career. In Mares de pasión, Sirena, the film's white protagonist, washes up on the shores of Havana, Cuba, unconscious and with amnesia, where she is rescued by Dr. Benítez. While in Havana, Dr. Benítez takes care of Sirena, whose identity is unknown until Sirena listens to a bambuco at a club in Havana, an Afro-Colombian musical genre originated in the Pacific Coast. While the musical clues help Sirena retrieve her memory, Delia's choreography in the film uses specific dances from Colombia to make a statement about Black and indigenous visibility. Zapata Olivella's gendered choreographed performance in the film serves as a metaphor of the political message the artist sought to accomplish in her career – to bring visibility to Black and indigenous Colombians through dance. Delia Zapata Olivella's influence on the music and choreographies in the film strategically position gender as a central vehicle through which to construct blackness as a sonic and visual discourse.
