Inspired in part by Grada Kilomba’s concept of “becoming the subject” and the notion of activating one’s own agency through self-actualization and self-determination, dance artists Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener lead an embodied workshop and informal demonstration. Drawn from their ongoing improvisational practice, Desire Lines, this 90-minute process provides joy and rest, discursive pathways and non-hierarchical structures, collaboration and ways of self-organizing.

How can we activate aspects of ourselves that exist at the margins, at places of possibility and discovery? We tune our individual attention towards a receptive state of being for a deeper understanding of our internal landscapes and our shared, external environment. Through simple observations, spontaneous choice-making, and layering of memories, we allow emergent structures to create a collective subject. 

No dance experience is required. This is an in-person event. Free and open to the public with a limited capacity of 20.

Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener are New York-based dance artists. Their ongoing work involves the building of collaborative worlds through improvisational techniques, digital technologies, and material construction. Together they have been artists-in-residence at LMCC, Mt Tremper, pieter, Jacob’s Pillow, New York City Center, The Watermill Center, MANCC, Headlands Center for the Arts, BOFFO, Center for Ballet and the Arts, and Baryshnikov Arts Center. Their work has been commissioned by Danspace Project, Madison Square Park, The Joyce Theater, BAM/Next Wave, The Barbican, EMPAC, The Walker Art Center, MCA Chicago, The Wexner, On The Boards, The LAB, Marfa Sounding, SFMOMA and MoMA PS1.