Danza y Frontera

“This work is dedicated to those that have the courage to move, to those who’s  bodies carry borders.” — Amanda Piña Danza y Frontera (Dance and Borders) is the latest work in the series Endangered Human Movements and it is based on a dance that arises at the border between Mexico and the US. The dance from the neighbourhood of El Ejido Veinte of Matamoros, Tamaulipas (Mexico), is performed today in a context of extreme violence related to a border where narcotraffic, militarization, and cheap labour industries meet. The dance has its roots in an ancient pre-hispanic dance form that was later used by the Spanish Crown (Casa de Austria/Habsburg) to develop the conquest of Mexico as a “danza de conquista”, a conquest dance. It continued to transform itself till today and it can be understood as a form of resistance to colonial and later neoliberal forces. A contemporary pop-cultural appropriation in which indigenous practices, colonial narratives, Hip Hop culture and indigenous mysticism resonate. Danza y Frontera explores this border choreography and brings its protagonists to Vienna in the context of the advancement of “Fortress Europe”. As border subjects, the performers inhabit a place in between, understanding its power and limitations, moving beyond all notions of borders be they cultural, national or aesthetic.

CREDITS

Choreography, direction: Amanda Piña

Choreography, teaching: Rodrigo de la Torre

Research, performance: Alma Quintana, Juan Carlos Palma, Alberto Montes, Paula Chaves Performance Rodrigo de la Torre, Matteo Marziano Graziano, Daphna Horenczyk, Dafne Moreno, Cristina Sandino, Antonio Raith, Dante Murillo

Research, theory: Nicole Haitzinger 

Movement studies: Feldenkrais Joy Ackwonú 

Technical coordination: Szymon Olszowski 

Music: Christian Müller, Edgar Uriel Soria 

Lights: Victor Duran 

Video in the performance: Amanda Piña, Susana Ojeda, Hubert Marz

Costume: La mata del veinte / Julia Trybula 

Video and photo documentation: Susana Ojeda, Hubert Marz – estudio elgozo 

Head of production: Angela Vadori PR Simon Hajós 

Production assistance: Kira Koplin 

Voluteer: Hannah Lejet 

Production in Mexico: Alma Quitana, Amanda Piña, Juan Carlos Palma A 

production: nadaproductions 

Co-production: Tanzquartier Wien