Choreopolitics juxtaposes the work of multidisciplinary artists Brendan Fernandes and nibia pastrana santiago, who use dance to resist, heal, and connect. Both previously trained in ballet, yet now they invert the style’s demands for spectacle, grace, and the illusion of ease. Fernandes reshapes and expands ballet through classical technique and experimental movement that challenge social and political spaces of hegemony. pastrana santiago, on the other hand, harnesses slowness, laziness, and exhaustion as a means of critiquing labor practices and training structures in ballet and the dance field more broadly. Together, their works exemplify what performance studies scholar André Lepecki calls “choreopolitics,” or planned and persistent movements of freedom. They confront dance’s histories of colonialism and marginalization, while pointing to dance’s potential for resistance. In Choreopolitics, Fernandes and pastrana santiago oppose conformity; refuse erasure; and strive towards freedom.

Choreopolitics is made possible by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in support of MASS MoCA and the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

Brendan Fernandes
As One IX, 2017
Digital print
34 x 48 in. (86.4 x 121.9 cm)
Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago