by Marisa Giménez Cacho (previous EC Member & Secretary General for ASSITEJ International)
This photo is from the spring of 2011 in Mexico City, 14 years ago. We were certainly happy. It was a great achievement to get Søren here to participate in the A Trote Festival.
I remember the negotiations beforehand, the benevolence towards Mexico and its public, his agility and experience.
Søren Valente Ovesen was a committed artist, committed to children, collaborative, generous, talented, cheerful, empathetic, supportive and very professional. He knew how to transmit these values to the formidable and sui generis company that is TeaterGruppen Batida.
I met him at the ASSITEJ World Congress in Adelaide in 2008. There we were both elected together with Yvette Hardie to the Executive Committee. At EC meetings his participation was active, often provocative; he resented hegemonies, discussed a lot and proposed actions outside the conventional script. Several changes were implemented as a result of his interventions.
I have memories that have not faded from my memory, such as standing on the border between Rwanda and Congo looking at the great lake, side by side, without speaking, sharing the emotion and amazement that came from recognising the beauty and complexity of that place.
On the 8th of July 2025 we received unexpected news, a bucket of ice water: Søren Valente had said goodbye to life. A deep sadness came over me; it revealed how much I loved him, how much I loved him.
In the following days I noticed, through different posts on the networks, that this feeling was shared by many people all over the world.
There are people who have the gift of leaving their mark wherever they go and with whom they live. That was Søren, he gave a lot of himself, he earned affection and respect with acts of empathy and generosity in the way he humbly shared his work and life.
