DANZA Y FRONTERA

DANZA Y FRONTERA 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.