Developed in close collaboration with three competitive dance groups from the peripheries of Recife, Brazil, Swinguerra (2019) celebrates music and dance as powerful forms of self-definition, solidarity, and resistance to the status quo.
Presented at the Brazilian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, the work follows performers – many of whom are Black, transgender, nonbinary, or queer – as they rehearse and compete in dance styles including swingueira, brega funk, and passinho da maloca.
Rooted in the cultural traditions of Northeast Brazil while also evolving and responding to contemporary urban life, these forms of movement and competition become vehicles through which dancers assert identity, forge community, and imagine new possibilities for belonging.