Danza y Frontera. Endangered Human Movements Vol. 4

“Danza y Frontera” is inspired by a dance that came up on the border between Mexico and the United States. Its roots can be traced to a pre-Hispanic dance form, and it unites this with new movement forms. Choreographer Amanda Piña and her nine dancers consciously and purposefully also employ figures from the “danza de la conquista”, the dance of conquest, that the Spanish Crown deployed during Mexico’s occupation.
The basic elements of these choreographies are still preserved and passed on today, practiced in many places, as performative acts of resistance against colonial and, later, neo-liberal powers.
Amanda Piña transfers this heritage, shifting it into the present with “Danza y Frontera” – with pop cultural appropriation that connects indigenous movement practice and sounds, colonial narrative, hip hop culture and mysticism to form one impressive performance. “The borderlands are a vague and undefined space, created by an unnatural boundary,” according to US-American author Gloria Anzaldúa, as quoted by Amanda Piña. “This country is in a permanent state of transition. Here, the atravesados live: The perverts, the strange, the restless, the half-breeds, the undead; in short, those that cross over, thereby overcoming the boundaries of the ‘norm’.”
Mexican-Chilean-Austrian choreographer and dancer Amanda Piña lives in Vienna. In her works, she probes for possibilities of de-colonisation, infusing her performances with references plucked from all cultures and eras.

Duration: 90 min.