Santiago de Chile (AFP)

London, Mexico or Paris: born in the port of Valparaiso, the choreography of a Chilean feminist collective, entitled "A rapist on your way", is becoming a worldwide anthem against violence against women.

The dance, very codified and visual, is made to have an impact the spectator and to be diffused as much as possible on the social networks.

Black headband on the eyes, a scarf around the neck, the women are aligned, the words strike, the gestures too.

"And it was not my fault, neither where I was, nor how I was dressed ... the rapist, it's you!", They launch, accusing finger tense towards the 'before. "They are the cops, the judges, the state, the president, the oppressor state and a macho rapist," they continued, raising their fists in the sky, crossing over their heads.

The first "happening" of the collective "LasTesis" took place on November 20 in the streets of Valparaiso, 120 kilometers from Santiago, the Chilean capital.

- Choreography reproduced on a large scale -

The song and its choreography were born after an investigation into rape in Chile and were part of a broader feminist show. But after the eruption of social protests in Chile and reports of sexual assaults by police against women, the group, which remains quiet, decided to advance its first.

The current crisis in Chile, where protesters demand greater social equality, has so far killed 23 people and injured nearly 5,000.

More than a thousand complaints of torture and ill-treatment have been lodged with the prosecutor's office, and dozens of cases of sexual assault by law enforcement officials are being investigated.

Five days later, on November 25, the choreography was scaled up in Santiago, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

"The patriarchy is a judge, who condemns us by the mere fact of being born (women), and our punishment is the violence that you do not see, it is the feminicide, the impunity for my murderer. It's the disappearance, it's the rape, "says the song again.

In less than 48 hours, "a rapist on your way" had been translated and thousands of women chanted "the rapist, it's you!" in Paris, Madrid, New York or Berlin to denounce the ambient machismo.

- "Cross-cutting issues" -

"This song has become this + performance + from a call made by several performing artists of Valparaiso to carry out interventions in the street", explained the collective "Las Tesis" in a free forum published Thursday in the Chilean magazine The Clinic .

"It seems that, globally, we feel the same sensations on our bodies and that we have the same experiences of life.And finally, all that turns into a great song", adds the group composed of the artists Sibila Sotomayor and Dafne Valdés, fashion designer Paula Cometa and costume designer Lea Caceres, all 31 years old.

The four young women define themselves as "an interdisciplinary collective of women who, through performances, approach the issues of gender with a feminist point of view". One of their first shows was based on texts by Italian-American Silvia Federici, a radical feminist activist. Currently, they say they work on texts by South American authors, such as Argentina's Rita Segato.

Wednesday night again, some 10,000 Chilean girls over 40 gathered in front of the Santiago National Stadium for a "senior" version of the choreography.

"It was a great experience to share this with thousands and thousands of women, most of them older, some 90 years old and in a wheelchair," Jacqueline Saintard, a 66-year-old economist, told AFP.

"It's terrible to see that the issues that are addressed in this song continue to be cross-cutting at the level of society, here and everywhere," concludes the text of "LasTesis" published Thursday.

According to data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), gender-based violence has claimed the lives of at least 3,529 women in 25 countries in 2018.

© 2019 AFP