Movement Research announces Issue 52/53 of its print publication, the Movement Research Performance Journal. For this issue, Sovereign Movements: Native Dance and Performance, guest editor, choreographer Rosy Simas invited writer, Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán, to work with her. Together they assembled contributors from Native and Indigenous communities to reflect upon their practices, the historical conditions out of which they operate as well as movement, performance, and choreography as a socio-political project. Just as it is important for physical institutions to acknowledge that they sit upon occupied land of Native and Indigenous people, so too must institutions of history, practice, and epistemology acknowledge their occupation of knowledge and memory.

Throughout this issue, dance and movement is posited as a powerful strategy against settler-colonial mindsets and as an effective tool against erasure of Native and Indigenous cultural traditions. These pages discuss the importance of Native sovereignty and analyze various histories of resistance to settler-colonialism. Artists in the issue propose alternative artistic models to probe the roles of art and artists in society towards a more expansive constellation that fundamentally critiques the Western reward system in culture as well as the often celebrated cult of authorship.

The cover and back cover of this issue invoke the history and intentionality of the Two Row Wampum Treaty from 1613 made between the Haudenosaunee and Dutch settlers. Two Row Wampum (back cover) is a living treaty—a way for people to live together in peace and respect and to ensure that people meet to discuss issues that emerge. Merritt Johnson’s Border Wampum (front cover) is a physical and symbolic tool for action against colonial borders. The pattern of jagged white lines in a dark purple ground references the jagged cutting apart of land and Indigenous life by colonial borders opposed to different ways of life flowing smoothly side by side.

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Contents

  • 2 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Moriah Evans
  • 4 SOVEREIGN MOVEMENTS: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING NATIVE DANCE AND PERFORMANCE COMMUNITIES—A DIALOGUE Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán & Rosy Simas
  • 7 WHEN WE DANCE: DECOLONIZING MOVEMENTS ACROSS GENERATIONS Iakowi:he'ne' (Melissa) Oakes
  • 8 THIS PLACE WE ALL INHABIT: A SHARED KULEANA T. Lulani Arquette
  • 8 ODE TO ALL THE DISPLACED CYBER NATIVES Anastasia Ski um talx McAllister
  • kełłexíls
  • šnp̓əšqʷáw̓šəxʷ
  • 10 PROVOCATIVE MOVES: REMEMBERING JAMES LUNA Gerald Clarke & Michelle H. Raheja
  • 12 BREATH OF WIND Anna Tsouhlarakis
  • 13 SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER Laura Ortman
  • 14 DANCING FOR SPIRIT, FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND CULTURE Maria Hupfield with John Hupfield (Waaseyaabin) and Deanne Hupfield & Sm Łoodm ’Nüüsm (Dr. Mique'l Dangeli) and Goothl Ts'imilx (Mike Dangeli)
  • 18 KIN-DLING AND OTHER RADICAL RELATIONALITIES Karyn Recollet & Emily Johnson
  • 24 HOW WE MARK LAND AND HOW LAND MARKS US, 2017 Tanya Lukin Linklater
  • 25 A CONVERSATION WITH TANYA LUKIN LINKLATER Tanya Lukin Linklater & Megan MacLaurin
  • 27 GRANDMOTHERS TALKING ON THE SHORE Andrea Carlson
  • INK BABEL
  • FORKED TONGUES
  • VASTER INK EMPIRE
  • LUST OF GOLD
  • 29 SKINS, FORMS, FLOWS, TONES Heid E. Erdrich
  • BODIES OF WATER
  • THE CLEANSING AFTER
  • CLOSE YOUR EYES AND LISTEN
  • LISTENING WITH THE BODY
  • 31 LONGER SCORES: NATIVE CHOREOGRAPHIC TURNS, CURATORIAL VISIONS, AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Rosy Simas & Christopher K. Morgan
  • 34 BEYOND THE BORDER: EMBODIED MESOAMERICAN TRANSMOTIONS María Regina Firmino Castillo, Daniel Fernando Guarcax González & Tohil Fidel Brito Bernal
  • 42 PROVOCATION Pelenakeke Brown
  • A TRAVELLING PRACTICE
  • 44 2043: NO ES UN SUEÑO Postcommodity
  • 50 EXILE: VISION QUEST AT THE EDGE OF IDENTITY (EXCERPT) Max Wolf Valerio
  • LANGUAGE TO VISIONS (EXCERPTS)
  • A POET LOST IN TRANSITION
  • 52 VOICEOVER TEXT FOR VIDEOS (LISTEN; EXORCIZING AMERICA: BUILDING LINES OF COMMUNICATION; EXORCISING AMERICA: TABLE EXERCISES; EXORCIZING AMERICA: WATER SAFETY) Merritt Johnson
  • 54 Exorcizing America: Survival Exercises / Oh Nenié:iere’ ne Aierèn:nha’ ne Aiakónhnheke’ / g̱asaniex̱ daa.itnagóowu Merritt Johnson & Nicholas Galanin
  • 56 RESPONSES TO WEAVE FROM NATIVE COMMUNITY WRITERS Heid E. Erdrich
  • 56 IMPRESSIONS AT A WEAVE REHEARSAL FOR ROSY SIMAS DANSE Melissa Olson
  • 56 WITNESSING WEAVE Jamie Randall
  • ENTWINED
  • 57 CREATING EXISTENCE Marcie Rendon
  • WEAVE
  • 57 BREATHING INTO INJURY Sarah Agaton Howes
  • 57 UNSETTLING Anthony Ceballos
  • 58 MATAO: QUEERLY NAVIGATING INDIGENIZING CREATIVE PRACTICE Dakota Camacho
  • 62 THE NAMING: KA ANA TUK AMUK Jewelle Gomez
  • ALCATRAZ REUNION
  • 63 NEITHER WHITE NOR SURFACE: A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE SPACES OF DANCE, INDIGENEITY, AND ADOPTION Zoë Klein & Sam Aros Mitchell
  • 66 POLYNESIAN TALK STORY: INDIGENOUS PACIFIC DANCERS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS IN DIALOGUE Anthony Aiu & Kaina Quenga

Editorial team

Moriah Evans
Editor-in-Chief
John Arthur Peetz
Managing Editor
Rosy Simas & Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán
Issue Editors
Niall Jones
Associate Editor
Yotam Hadar & Sean Yendrys
Graphic Design
Vered Engelhard
Copy Editor
Emily Bartsch, Natalia Flores Zalles, Katherine Wilkinson
Interns
Lauren Bakst, Ursula Eagly, Abigail Levine, Matthew Lyons, Rennie McDougall, Blanca Ulloa, Benjamin Van Buren, Anh Vo, Buck Wanner, Tara Willis
Contributing Editors
Mary Anne Bodnar
Ad Layout
Lauren Bakst, Jaime Shearn Coan
Special Thanks