Proyecto Balneario: New Dance Work Reclaims Marbella Beach’s History—from Popular UP-Era Resort to Torture Site After Chile’s Coup

Proyecto Balneario premieres Friday, October 17 at 8:00 p.m. at Espacio La Vitrina (Marín 0349, Providencia), following a seven-month, on-site investigation with local communities; performances continue on October 17, 18, 19 and 24, 25, 26 at the same venue.

The Citizen

15/10/2025 7:27pm

Marbella Beach—located in the commune of Santo Domingo in Chile’s Valparaíso Region—is the focal point of a new contemporary dance creation by Colectivo La Vitrina, Plataforma Bastarda, and artist-director Tania Rojas. Together, they have spent recent years investigating memory, landscape, and the body.

This time, the chosen site is a seaside resort—hence the work’s title—a territory marked by little-known natural and historical milestones: coastal vegetation, the ruins of a workers’ vacation center promoted by the Unidad Popular (UP) government, and a darker turn when the place became a detention and torture center during Chile’s military dictatorship.

For seven months, a team of dance, sound, and visual artists researched how the landscape can act as witness, ally, and trace of history.

“When I take in the beauty of Patagonia, I think of the Selk’nam genocide. Landscape is never empty; it holds traces. That led us to Marbella, on the San Antonio coast, where the first popular seaside resort from Salvador Allende’s 40 measures operated—and which, after the coup, became the DINA’s first torture school. That historical tension is the core of the piece,” explains Tania Rojas, director of “Proyecto Balneario”.

The investigation gave way to the work of the same name, which premieres on October 17 at 8:00 p.m. at Espacio La Vitrina in Providencia. Performances will also run on October 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26 at the same venue.

“This proposal explores the territory, which is why activists from the Agrupación de DD.HH. del Litoral Central and the Fundación por la Memoria San Antonio have been part of this research process,” the director adds.

“Balneario” is the third installment of a trilogy that began with “Tinnitus” in 2023, continued with “Maneras de (Re) existir” in 2024, and now brings nature, history, and the body into dialogue.

The project is supported by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, Fundación Memoria San Antonio, Agrupación de DDHH del Litoral Central, and in collaboration with the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. It is also part of the University of Chile’s Foro de las Artes.

Event details

Proyecto Balneario
Dates: October 17, 18, 19 and 24, 25, 26.
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Price: $6,000 general; $4,000 students.
Tickets at https://ticketplus.cl/events/proyecto-balneario