TELEMARKERAS

My name is Diana Rivera García, although to make it shorter I go by Diana Rivera. Professional winter sport trainer / examiner, I have dedicated half of my life to study and practice three different winter sports disciplines (ski, snowboard and telemark). I was born in 1982 in El Albaycin, the old Arab quarter of Granada, Spain. I grew up between the Spanish Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and the Mediterranean beaches, always in full contact with nature,
developing from early childhood a passion for outdoors sport activities. I love climbing, hiking, surfing, skiing, snowboarding and telemarking.
Worked in the snow sport industry since 2001. I have lived and worked in many ski towns in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere.
In 2020, I founded We Telemark, a Telemark educational platform, with the singular goal to make Telemark more accessible. It provides on snow telemark training sessions, together with technical presentations and online specific support material to those starting and progressing on the teaching pathway. In order to make it more visible and to also show to students their progression, We Telemark started editing fun and educational short videos. Before I realised it… Telemarkeras started.
Telemarkeras arises from the passion I personally feel for the practice of the sport and the deep respect I have for everyone who practices it and even more, those who helps spreading it.
The realisation of this project has provided the opportunity to unite under the same common effort a group of women who dedicate their lives to the practice and promotion of Telemark.
I would like the presentation of this documentary to broadcast this sport and to be used as support material to help spread its practice.
The story behind Telemarkeras
The curtain rises: The echo of the rumbling flamenco stomping appears in the distance. Its intensity increases slowly. Unexpectedly, a set of intermittent images appears before my eyes, presented as flashes from a still camera. A blending is introduced between images that represent two worlds, my past and my present. These images show the feet of a flamenco dancer in full action and those of a telemarkera on skis in the middle of a short turns session.
Why is the documentary called “Telemarkeras”?
Some languages add a gender in their grammar. Spanish is one of them. Telemarkeras is the feminine gender of a person who practices the sport known as Telemark. This is a movie about women on Telemark equipment and Telemarkeras a very direct way to explain in just one word what is it about.
Telemarkeras takes you on a winter journey through the European, Japanese and American mountains presenting the story of five women passionate about practicing the winter sport discipline known as Telemark. It is a journey through the steps they take daily in order to be able to promote and practice the sport.  It is a project that defines the characteristics of the community anyone who has tried it has felt. A community grounded in support, encouragement, hard work, and most importantly fun. Telemarkeras the project aims to show this through the eyes of five woman from across the world who not all know each other personally, but are forever bonded together through the sport of Telemark.
Telemarkeras find its origins in the connection of events. Love, passion, friendship and global madness are the engine of these connections. 
Love. Half way through my first Japanese summer in Hokkaido, long sunny days trekking or looking for waves to surf, the inability to travel scratched on the door of my roots making me feel rather lonely. Being unable to get together with those I love and not knowing how long that situation would last, with a powerful urge to feel connected and to interact with others I took on the idea of making a video documentary. It was not only the idea of promoting the sport, it was my personal way to feel connected, to interact with others, to be part of something while feeling far away from my people. This is also the reason why the sound of flamenco came to play an important role in this project
The Flamenco tunes have been for me the way to feel grounded, a flashback to my childhood. It imparts a familiar rhythm and elegance to the harmonic dance required to perform the dynamic balance of the Telemark turn.
Passion.  Telemark has become a lot more than just a way to turn down the hill, it is now the engine of my life. I think, feel, breath, live Telemark in every way possible. No matter how the day goes, Telemark has the strength to make anyone be in the moment, to live the flow of life with the intensity of the present. Sharing these feeling with others is the culmination of this passion, when time stops and nothing else matters.
Friendship. The gift to share life chapters with friends, the cross path encounters with new soul mates and the reconnections with people who once were part of an epic part of life is indeed one of the most powerful gifts I have been given. Telemarkeras is just another perfect example of it. If there is something I can take forever with me from this project is that this is more than just a group of women who are passionate about the sport of Telemark, this is an opportunity to tighten bonds with special, strong, determined people who will always be in my life.
Global madness. During the month of adapting to the World’s situation in which we were all immersed a few years back and as a result of the free time I suddenly had together with my personal desire to promote Telemark, I decided to shape an idea that was already floating in my mind and fully dive headlong into “the seventh art”as my means to that end.
In the ancient Greek and Roman culture Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music, Literature and Dancing were considered the Classic Arts, when cinematography came to life about a hundred years ago the Mediterranean cultures decided to consider it part of these ancient arts calling it “The Seventh Art”       

Connections among the team arose during the early stages of this global madness. Between online messages, phone calls and video meetings, we were able to form bonds and begin the project. The members of the technical team and all the talent were scattered around the planet with a palpable impossibility of reunion. This, only increased the interest and dedication by which each member embraced the project. 

The female perspective of it was first brought to me by Richard Hocking, one of my telemark trainers who had, at the time, insisted several times on this idea. I never thought making a female-only anything was part of my essence, as I believe we (both males and female) make the world spin and we are nothing without one another. But then I saw the colour of it and started to think about all these women who somehow have been inspiring my path into the Telemark world.
A few of these women are showcased in this documentary, and many others were simply not able to join the party at the time due to personal duties.
The original idea was to have a female representative from each continent. I selected eight women at first, but time and logistics left me with five.                              
Kate, Lena and Fran have been part of special moments in my life, I can't be more thankful for this opportunity to share back again with them. Beatrice, although I still do not know her in person, is someone from whom I have learned a lot of technical movements. Watching her run races on slow motion has strongly developed my edging skills. 
Even when I was well aware of the complexity of this project, I never thought it could be this difficult to make it happen. It has not all been easy, it has not always been fun, but it has been a magnificent way to go far beyond personal limits to discover that “Where there is a will, there is a way”.
Telemarkeras Project would have not been possible without the support, commitment, trust, encouragement of all of its participants and to all of them a huge Thanks for being there every step of the way. To all of you who have believed in this idea, and to all of you who have been following it an eternal gratitude for the powerful positive energy always transmitted.