Frontera /Border - A Living in Monument

(2022)
PERFORMER IN `FRONTERA /BORDER - A LIVING IN MONUMENT´ BY AMANDA PIÑA. 



Tras, tras, tras… traca, traca, tras, tras.
Traca, traca, tras, tras.
Tras, tras.
That is how the dance begins…

Rodrigo de la Torre


“He told me: Prepare for tomorrow, we will cross the border. To cross at the first try is not far from a dream. After the slope, walk with great care, the way to the other side is plagued with snakes”

Popular “corrido” song, author unknown



The piece corresponds to the fourth volume of the research on “Endangered Human Movements” *,a long-term research carried out by choreographer Amanda Piña on the current loss of planetary bio-cultural diversity.

Rooted in an ancient pre-Hispanic dance form that historically meets a “Danza de Conquista”, ( a Conquest Dance), re -enacting the battles in Europe between Mors and Christians, implemented by the Spanish Crown, (Casa Austria /Habsburg) to develop the conquest of Mexico.

This old dance is practiced and actualized again during the 1990’s by a group of youngsters from Matamoros, Tamaulipas ( MX) at the border between Mexico and the U.S. Led by dance leader Rodrigo de la Torre, the dance is practiced today, in a context where extreme violence, narco traffic, militarization, and cheap labor industries meet.

If race is a mark carried on a body of a certain position in History, to unsettle the hegemony of that history is central to the development of this work which looks at “traditional” dance as a repertoire of inscriptions where many narrations intertwine, encoding a continues movement of resistance to all forms of oppression and dispossession.

Frontera I Border, proposes a living monument, a monumental dance, as a homage to the power and resilience of those whose bodies carry borders, to those who dear to cross.





DATES



SUPPORT AND FUNDING


Frontera / Border – A living monument is produced by nadaproductions, co-produced Kunsten Festival des Arts, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Arts Finland and Asphalt Festival Düsseldorf, and is funded by the City of Vienna (Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien).
With the support of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National School of Folkloric Dance of Mexico, INBA, National Institute of Fine Arts Mexico.


Artistic Direction & Choreography:
Amanda Piña

Art Design:
Michel Jimenez

Choreography & Transmission danza de Matamoros:
Rodrigo de la Torre Coronado

Research:
Juan Carlos Palma Velasco, Amanda Piña

Performance:
Tulio de Amorim da Rosa, Matilde Amigo, Valentina Wong, Dafne del Carmen Moreno, Juan Carlos Palma Velasco, Quetzally Soto, Rodrigo de la Torre Coronado, Lina María Venegas, Marie Mazer, Jorgue luis Cruz Carrera, Salvador (Chavita) Rodriguez Guerra

Music and composition:
Christian Müller

Live percussion:
Jorgue luis Cruz Carrera, Salvador (Chavita) Rodriguez Guerra

Research / Theory /Dramaturgy:
Nicole Haitzinger

Costume:
La mata del veinte / Julia Trybula

Production Management:
nadaproductions

International distribution, tour management:
Something Great (Berlin)

Senior Adviser:
Marie–Christine Barrata Dragono

Management:
Angela Vadori Smart.at