'ON THE DEFENSE' (2019) is a dance at the Civic Center of Guatemala City, based on one of his murals: "Guatemalan Nationality" by Roberto González Goyri. The mural depicts, among other scenes, a small group of people wearing some kind of armor, resembling an armadillo, defending themselves from invaders. According to the mural, they use modernist shields, designed by the artist more than 50 years ago. The performance, presented as part of the First Biennial in Resistencia, offers a glimpse into the ways in which we move through the city, generally on the defensive, perceiving others as potential aggressors. In this way, these abstract shields can literally remind us of the need to always protect ourselves from something where the "shields" are always deployed. Like armadillos in a tropical forest, and amidst the noise of the city, the choreography unfolds during rush hour, in the bureaucratic center of the country, just before the sun sets, just as people leave work and head for their burrows. Shields, in addition to being defensive, have also historically served to declare the enemy of the kingdom they defend through symbols. The shape of the shield has always been important, and in this performance, the armadillo-people carry shields that bear an oblique relationship to other symbols of resistance and social struggle, thus taking advantage of their modernism to subvert it. Although their formalist anachronism is absurd, it reflects the liberal imaginary; its ideological, political, and social foundations, upon which the fiction of the country is built. At least on a symbolic level, the act of dancing is liberating and disruptive, and thus, this action creates a counterpoint to the rigorously monitored spaces where the body is reduced to the functions of bureaucracy and productivity.

Performers:

Ben Arévalo

Gandy Anabí Coxaj

Carrera María

José L. Escobar

Julio Esquite (Chino Dancer)

Naomi Hernández Hernández

Vanessa Hernández Leonel de León

Alejandra Mazariegos

Gudiel Ramos

Lourdes Sierra