My journey on The Road Home

On June 30th, 2018 I collaborated with two wonderful artists, Soulaf Abas (Syria) and Bruce McKaig (United States) on a show we titled The Road Home while we were Equal Justice residents at the Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI) in Santa Fe, NM. The time at the residency helped me deepen my research on decolonization and resulted in a series of improvised dances that I performed as part of the show. Here are a excerpts on a couple:

El 30 de junio de 2018 colaboré con dos artistas maravillosos, Soulaf Abas (Siria) y Bruce McKaig (Estados Unidos) en un espectáculo que titulamos The Road Home durante nuestra residencia de Equal Justice en el Instituto de Arte de Santa Fe (SFAI) en Nuevo Mexico. El tiempo en la residencia me ayudó a profundizar mi investigación sobre la descolonización y dio como resultado una serie de danzas. Aquí hay algunos segmentos:

Reclaiming indigeniety

Most of my work over the past 5 years has centered around my identity as a queer latinoamericana living in the U.S. Underlying that work, there has been a constant questioning of home, what it is in the constant flux of a migrant society and what it means for me as I create and recreate my identity. Living en la frontera— the U.S.-Mexico border— in the cities of El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, has heightened this sense of ephemerality of place and has lead me to question how we become native to a region, how and when a new home gets established and what social, political and cultural contexts frame that experience.

This process started me on a journey back to my home, looking at my family lineage and ancestry to see how that informs my corporeality, my relationships and my work. I have framed this research as a decolonizing activity of both my improvisation practice and my family’s history. Building on my previous work, during the month-long residency this took three paths:

La mayor parte de mi trabajo en los últimos 5 años se ha centrado en mi identidad como una latinoamericana queer en los Estados Unidos. Detrás de ese trabajo, hay un cuestionamiento constante del hogar y lo que es dentro del flujo constante de una sociedad migrante,  y lo que significa para mientras creo y recreo mi identidad. Viviendo en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México— en las ciudades de El Paso, TX y Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, ha aumentado este sentido de efemeralidad y me ha llevado a cuestionar cómo nos convertimos en nativos de una región, cómo y cuándo se establece un nuevo hogar, y qué contextos sociales, políticos y culturales enmarcan esa experiencia.

Este proceso inició en un viaje de regreso a mi hogar, observando mi ascendencia familiar y cuestionar cómo esta informa mi corporalidad, mis relaciones y mi trabajo. He enmarcado esta investigación como una actividad descolonizadora tanto de mi práctica de improvisación como de la historia de mi familia. Durante el mes de la residencia esto tomó tres caminos:

By expanding my understanding of listening and relational presence while remembering how to establish a reciprocal relationship to land and more-than-human nature. This process has been supported by the writings of Robin Wall Kimmerer, specifically her book Braiding Sweetgrass. The wisdom that she carries has inspired me to create a daily ritual of gratitude, look for concrete ways to give back to Mother Earth, and spend more time in the company of (and dancing with) my non-human brothers and sisters.

Honoring African roots

The Latin American vernacular dances that I grew up dancing are grounded deeply in their African roots. By embracing characteristics of the African aesthetic (e.g. body isolations, polyrhythms, dancing closer to the floor) and expanding my current practice to include rhythmic-based improvisation, I aim to decolonize my experience through embodiment.

Making stories

While in residence at SFAI I began to use storymaking as a way to reclaim my lost family lineage. I wrote three short (mostly) fictional stories drawing from memories, stories told and written by family members, historical facts, news articles and documentaries. These have become a space for me to wrestle with the complexities of mi mestizaje and confront the colonial narrative in my family’s past and present in an effort to create an alternative one in the future.