Movements Beyond Spontaneity: Dance Improvisation in the Colonial Context

Abstract

The challenges that Puerto Rican dance professionals are confronting are complex and multidimensional for no art manifestations happen on the periphery of the social and economic situations of the country where it develops. Self-managed productions, cross-disciplinary artistic collaborations, and the use of non-traditional spaces to perform, are some of the strategies artists have developed to carry on their work. Taking this into consideration, Movements beyond Spontaneity: Dance Improvisation in the Colonial Context analyzes the practice and discourses of two Puerto Rican female improvisers, Ñequi González and Noemí Segarra, in relation to Puerto Rico’s sociopolitical and historic contexts. In this paper, attention is paid to each artist’s body of work, professional development and entrepreneurial approach. How Puerto Rico’s sociopolitical and economic contexts inform –and has informed- these artists’ practices and performances of improvisation? What strategies have they developed to advance their careers? How these improvisers signify their moving bodies and define their cultural/gender identities? How their moving bodies and creative endeavors are impacting their social realities?