Mother The Verb: Workshop

by Ivy Monteiro and Javier Stell-Frésquez
presented as part of EcoFutures Festival

Sunday 7 April 2019
Chisenhale Dance Space
64-84 Chisenhale Road, London, E3 5QZ
Part 1 / open to all / 1-3pm £10/15
Part 2 / for POC only / 3:15-5pm £5 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

BOOK

Rooted in queer and indigenous/of colour worldviews and lived experiences, this 2-part workshop offers the space for participants to complicate the concept of motherhood in relation to our environment. Sessions include movement exploration and discussions to counteract heteropatriarchal white supremacy.

Part 1: Ain’t I Your Mother?

How does care in our chosen families and queer communities relate to the relationships we have with our own gestational mothers? By considering how “motherhood” can transcend biological bonds, from Earth/Creatrix to creature, we’ll explore how various kinds of ‘mothering’ mirror the relationships we have with Mother Earth.

In this workshop, Javier and Ivy will share their inspirations for ‘Mother the Verb’, including how it connects to their own Indigenous and Latinx matriarchal roots. Participants will be working with the gaze, improvisational movement and text.

// 15min break between parts (snaps to our white allies/accomplices for kindly stepping back from Part 2 of the workshop) //

Part 2: Urban Ecology for POC: Designing Our Own Seat at The Table

Ever felt like your people have already weathered an apocalypse? Want to be appreciated as a keystone species rather than a pigeon holed as a niche creature? As the global climate increasingly disturbs both economies and habitats, we want to reflect on how diversity in work spaces and institutions is as valuable as biodiversity on the Earth.

Join Ivy and Javier in re-framing tokenism through ecological forms of relationship reflected inIndigenous worldviews. Come with questions and curiosity to delve into crowdsourcing strategies, tips, and paradigms to seize the unique agency that ‘tokens’ have. Through a facilitated dialogue format, participants will be able to compare notes, and get vulnerable in a safe(r) space.

The artists will perform Mother The Verb at Chisenhale Dance Space on Friday 5 April at 7:30pm.

Bios

Ivan “Ivy” Monteiro (Brasil) is a performance artist working across dance, music and visual arts. Their work contests gender, social and racial expectations through processes of (dis)identification and draws from ancestral and spiritual knowledges to enact futuristic scenes of redemption, reparation and healing. Ivan also goes by the name “Tropikahl Pussy”, producing “draglesque” and live music performances.

Javier Stell-Frésquez (Piru & Tigua Native American from El Paso, Texas) is a performance artist and choreographer working with a variety of dance forms including ballroom voguing. She produces Two-Spirit performance festivals and community events in SF Bay Area and holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from Stanford University. Javier also facilitates discussions and workshops on decolonial equity frameworks and Indigenous Land Acknowledgments.

Mother The Verb premiered in San Francisco as part of Counterpulse Artist Residency Commissioning Program.