The workshop will be developed from the uses of a fusion of contemporary dances such as Twerk, and Female Dancehall. In Colombia, these dance styles are not perceived very well in society. However, women have taken over and re-appropriated these dance styles as subversive practices. Within the workshop, we seek to empower bodies and connect them with natural and everyday sensations. The aim is to deconstruct possible gender stereotypes, generate acceptance to understand the diversity we hold in our bodies and connect this diversity with the importance of protecting our bodies as personal territory.
The workshop is explicitly designed for those who want to explore their femininity and primarily addresses women*, and non-binary persons. The workshop intends to create a safe and intimate public space and is limited to 15-20 participants. Priority is given to those identifying as Black, Indigenous and People of Color, queers and women*.
Mery Palacios [she/they], also known as Wiwa is an Afro-Colombian dancer, artist and teacher born in Bogotá. Wiwa dedicates their energy and work to preserving and transmitting Afro-Colombian culture and uses cultural rights to create proposals for her community. Wiwa holds an education in Performing Arts and works on different art projects where dance performances are used as a tool of resistance and bodily empowerment. Creator of Power Wine, a collective that strengthens women through Female Dancehall. (https://www.instagram.com/wiwis09/)
The workshop is part of the queer feminist and trans-cultural student-led event that presents an integrated performative and experimental workshop series on bodies, corpor(e)ality and empowerment. It takes place during international women’s history month, celebrated at Central European University (CEU) and will close a month full of feminist, critical, decolonial and subversive activities. The workshop series we offer aims to create a safe, intimate and queer feminist space. It wants to co-create a space for diverse sensations through art and craft possibilities for practicing and celebrating forms of non-normative embodied experiences and collective empowering ways of relating. Therefore, the workshop series is not exclusively focused on the question of queering gendered, heteronormative and hegemonic bodies, or celebrating rainbow-glitter aesthetics. It focuses more on the queer and feminist role of art to empower us in the necessary encounter of our own diverse embodied presence and corporality and through the re/appropriation of public space such as the University as intimate public space.
This event is part of the Art_Trans_Formations - A Workshop Series on non-hegemonic Corpor(e)ality & Empowerment.
This event is organized under queer feminist and anti-sexist ethics. We do not tolerate sexist, ableist, fatphobic, queer- and transphobic, racist, antisemitic, islamophobic, or any kind of discriminatory behaviors, nor misogynistic dogmas. We expect all the atendees to respect this consensus.
During the event, pictures and shorter videos will be taken. If you wish not to be record,ed please let the workshop facilitator and organizers know this initially.
If you wish to participate in the queer feminist Art_Trans_Formations Workshop Series please sign up until the 29th of March.