Amanda Piña, Danza y Frontera, 2018. Performance at Tanzquartier / Museumsquartier Wien - Halle G, October 2018. Photo © Hubert Marz
“This work is dedicated to those that have the courage to move, to those whose bodies carry borders.” — Amanda Piña
Danza y Frontera (Dance and Borders) by Amanda Piña is a performance that can be presented either on stage or in gallery settings. The work is based on a dance that arises at the border between Mexico and the US. The dance from the neighbourhood of El Ejido Veinte in Matamoros, Tamaulipas (Mexico) is performed today in a context of extreme violence at a border where narcotraffic, militarization, and cheap labour industries meet. Its roots lie 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” (conquest dance). It has continued to evolve and 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 an in-between space, understanding its power and limitations while 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
With support from the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna, the Austrian Chancellory (BKA), ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival, Austrian Embassy in Mexico, Mexican Embassy in Austria, Escuela Nacional De Danza Folklorica de Mexico, Diplomado Como Encender un Fosforo – Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Museo Universitario del Chopo.