Son[i]a #347
Cecilia Bengolea
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Multidisciplinary artist Cecilia Bengolea (b. Buenos Aires, 1979) sees dance as a tool and a medium for empathy and emotional exchange. She is particularly interested in anthropological research on contemporary and archaic forms of dance, and devotes herself to learning techniques, movements, and choreographies from around the world, using them to shape her own artistic vocabulary: an embodied movement and dance archive—built up individually and collectively—, in which the body becomes an animated sculpture for performance, video, and installations.
In this podcast, Cecilia Bengolea talks about her life journey, a state between constant flux and sensual impulse that draws on Thai boxing and pole dancing as well as contemporary dance and dancehall. In reference to her Caribbean experiences and Caribbean dances, Cecilia Bengolea points to the climate, the humidity, and sweat as factors that explain other forms of bodily intelligence and synaptic connections. Through them, joy, fantasy, and humour are able to exorcise the limits of the body, systemic violence, and grief. We also talk about animistic beliefs and choreographic imaginings, while reconfiguring preconceived notions of cultural appropriationism and certain readings of gender roles in dance, through dancehall culture.