Out of Control

Due to the process-based nature of the Session program, this project will undergo constant modifications; the features of this page provide accruing information on the project’s developments.

On November 6, Camilo Godoy will begin Out of Control, a project that will transform Recess into a dance studio to develop a choreography entitled What did they actually see?

Out of Control is inspired by Godoy’s ongoing research into colonial texts from the 17th to 19th century written by European missionaries and explorers that describe the dance practices of non-European people. The project title references colonial accounts by Europeans characterizing the dance practices of non-European and non-white people as “out of control,” “lacking discipline,” and being without “civility.”

Godoy’s Session will draw upon these records, which he considers to be the earliest forms of dance criticism in the “New World,” to interrogate and disrupt the construction of non-Europeans as “barbaric,” “possessed,” and “deviant” bodies. Godoy’s Session will engage the public through film screenings, workshops for adults and children, open rehearsals, a performance series, and a dance party to explore how these legacies of the colonial gaze reverberate in present day. Employing the dance studio as a site of pedagogy, community, and collaboration, Out of Control will consider how spaces of performance allow us to forge new bonds of kinship and belonging.

Session invites artists to use Recess’s public platform to combine productive studio space with dynamic exhibition opportunities. Sessions remain open to the public from the first day of the artist’s project through the last, encouraging sustained dialogue between artists and audiences. Due to the process-based nature of Session, projects undergo constant revision and the above proposal is subject to change.