• 00:01 The body as a medium
  • 05:46 Physical compositions and anthropological dance
  • 10:43 Dancing without foundations
  • 16:43 Trajal Harrell and voguing
  • 18:16 Narrative dance, sexualised discourse
  • 21:02 Duels, parties and violence
  • 25:12 Dance is a weapon
  • 27:31 2001, Argentina
  • 29:50 Humid climates and physical intelligence
  • 36:57 From Cuba to Jamaica
  • 41:07 Dancehall and fluid gender roles
  • 46:52 On violence and cultural appropriation in Jamaica
  • 51:36 Viral dance steps
  • 53:26 Everyday performance
  • 56:18 Filming total movement
  • 64:16 Ageing with dance
24/02/2022 66' 5''
Spanish
Erika Miyauchi during a performance

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.

Conversation: Ricardo Cárdenas and Anna Ramos. Script: Ricardo Cárdenas. Production: André Chêdas. Voice over: Anna Ramos. Sound: variations on the famous Casio MT-40 factory preset that spawned the Sleng Teng riddim.
Son[i]adanceperformancechoreographyvideodancehallCecilia BengoleaCreative Commons

Related RWM programmes