Choreographer Mariana Valencia improvises with musician Jazmin Romero

Live in-person performances Oct 6 and Oct 18 at 6pm. Free and Open to All.

Proof of Covid vaccination or a negative test is required.

Click here to register for October 18th performance.

Choreographer and performer Mariana Valencia creates an improvisation with musician Jazmin Romero for the exhibition “We Are Beside Ourselves” on Valencia’s performance platform Jacklean. This encounter involves the physical presence of her body sharing the same time and space with the audience amidst the artworks and the rhythm of improvised sound.

This collaboration between Valencia and Romero will be performed on/with the character Jacklean, a simple wood platform that Valencia offers for the times when she is not physically present and remains as a place for gathering for the duration of the exhibition. This play of presence even in absence furthers her use of terms like Transmission, Translation, Relation, Proximity and Blend to re-characterize the ways that kinships form between family, nation and intimate partners. For Valencia, this research into the affective ties of nationalism extends her interest in kinship. In this formation of “we” differences in opinions, choices, and perspectives are strengths. Some we’s are made up of unexpected affinities; even as they may be fraught they also have the possibility of being transformative. From practices emerge a pluralistic, dynamic, and always emerging “we.”

Night one performance was October 6th including a day performance with Guttman College students