Staff Reporter
HAVE you been looking for an adventurous way to immerse yourself in writing?
Somewhere inspirational to connect with nature, alongside a team of talented writers, dancers, healers, and Andalucía cultural enthusiasts?
Well you will love Faraway is Close, a new experiential cross cultural project launching its first international writing adventure in southern Spain this Autumn.
Taking place from November 12 to 16 in the charming village of Capileira, high in the Alpujarras mountains of Granada, you are certain to be taken on a journey you will never forget.
The course, called WRITE * JOURNEY * EMBODY is a five-day creativity retreat in English that invites participants to evoke ‘la naturaleza dentro’, or your true nature: earth wind fire water ether.
After a series of encounters with land, story and community in the mythic region, you will reflect these encounters in embodied writing and movement.
The program is facilitated by Shebana Coelho, an award-winning US-based writer and filmmaker and founder of Faraway is Close, along with Capileira residents, Sonia Moslero Mellado of Zahorí Massage and Cristina Serrano Paz of Flamenco la Fuente.
The program includes daily writing sessions in memoir metaphor fiction that interweave writing and many other experiences.
These include sharing, reading, visualizations, movement, dance and embodying, individual bodywork sessions to integrate and reconnect to the nature of the body, tea, storytelling and songs with Capileira residents.
There will also be guided excursions on the land and through museums on local geology and botany, culture and history.
This is the second Faraway is Close program in Capileira: after the town saw the premiere of the documentary, Nasario recuerda su rio/Nasario remembers the Rio Puerco, in November 2017.
Directed by Shebana, this film about landscape and memory, features famed New Mexico folklorist Nasario García and is connected to Granada.
Dr. García began his career as a folklorist after hearing a cante jondo flamenco song in Granada that evoked the songs he heard as a young boy in New Mexico, a former colony of Spain.
“The film was enthusiastically and emotionally received by Alpujarras audiences,” explains director Shebana Coelho, “and it deepened the Faraway is Close connection to the village.
“The goal of Faraway is to connect cultures and communities through open-hearted encounters in story, film, dance and this new writing adventure in Capileira is one we hope to replicate in the years to come, to deepen the encounter with this mythic magic region and to invite others to create resonant writing from this journey.”
To register for the workshop and for more information, please visit
farawayisclose.com/spain-2019
