How does an artist portray their communities? The choreographer and dancer Mariana Valencia explores this question as part of her ongoing collaboration with sound artist and musician Jazmin “Jazzy” Romero. Jacklean (in rehearsal) is a performance that incorporates improvisatory choreography, music, and language. Layering multiple artistic genres, Valencia’s words and movement and Romero’s synthesizer, guitar, and vocals create an exchange between artists and audience governed by rehearsal and play.
Valencia works through dance to reveal the individual’s role within a collective. Her practice relies on improvisation, experimental dance, and comedy grounded in a queer, Latinx sensibility. A vital voice in New York’s performance art community for over a decade, she weaves together everyday gestures with dance, drawing on cumbia, freestyle, modern, and postmodern traditions. During Jacklean (in rehearsal), Romero’s polyvocal repertoire of cumbia, punk, jazz, and electronic music functions as a soundtrack and prompt for Valencia’s movements. The two perform alone yet in tandem, continuing Valencia’s explorations of group work.
Organized by Lilia Rocio Taboada, Curatorial Associate, Department of Media and Performance. With thanks to Kennedy Hollins Jones, former Black Arts Council 12-Month Intern, Department of Media and Performance. Produced by Lizzie Gorfaine, Associate Director and Producer, with Kayva Yang, Assistant Performance Coordinator, Performance and Live Programs.