thINKingDANCE

Donate
Photo: Walter Wlodarczyk
Photo: Walter Wlodarczyk

Imagination as Survival in “YO OBSOLETE”

Rachel DeForrest Repinz

Presented by The Leadership Network for Accessible Arts Education, Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez’s YO OBSOLETE offers a meditation on imagination as survival. Núñez, a visually impaired choreographer and dancer, begins with eyes closed. He calls on an inner voice, Carlito, to help take the audience on a journey of survival. Acting as a guide in the near 30-minute film, Núñez immerses the audience through on-screen movement and continuous voiceover that combines narrative, audio description, imagination, and memory.

Wearing a light pink windbreaker adorned with patches, embellishments, and pop-art paintings, Núñez moves through a vast white room, framed by long strips of pink ribbon with eclectic personal artifacts lining the walls and floor beneath him. The collage-like installation of objects is abundant with references to a queer and disabled childhood. In this world, Núñez and Carlito become archeologists of their imagination and ancestral memory. Núñez balances a pink toy truck on his head, as he spins, expanding and contracting through the space; recalling memories of childhood trauma, violence, and desire. In conversation with one another, Christopher and Carlito (whose pointy high-pitched voice contrasts the deep silkiness of Núñez) offer one another memories, movement prompts, and sanctuary from the trauma through a voiced exchange. The narrative voice-over, interspersed with more literal audio descriptions of Núñez’s movement, acts as both a source of survival and inspiration. Spinning, reaching, and breathing.

As Núñez transverses through the room, he drags the toy truck behind him, knocking down the installation of hand-drawn images, posters, and trinkets. He recalls his childhood desires, I want to feel safe, to play, fried chicken, to be hugged, pink flowers, a pink dress, a barbie… but instead he remembers a childhood that gave him boxing gloves and violence. His final ask, I wanted to talk to my mom, conjures his mothers voice into the soundscape. She appears briefly as a raspy Spanish-speaking voice, before disappearing and leaving Núñez and Carlito alone to protect each other once again.

Núñez spins underneath himself, around and around and around and around, he breathes deeply, trusting his imagination to guide him. Here, he finds his own path to survival. Seamlessly blending together narrative and more traditional description, Núñez invites the audience to close our eyes with him, tapping into our own imaginative memory. Together, we survive.

YO OBSOLETE, Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez, The Leadership Network for Accessible Arts Education, Jan. 19.

Homepage image:  Ground level, two objects confront each other. On the left is a pink melodica and on the right is a pink remote control toy truck. Behind is a bright pink ribbon, leaving a trace of color. This image is from a live performance adaptation of YO OBSOLETE.

Article image: Christopher  “Unpezverde” Núñez balances the pink remote control car on his head as a crown. In the background, two audience members admire him. This image is from a live performance adaptation of YO OBSOLETE.

Share this article

Headshot_2022_-_Repinz_by_Nir_Arieli

Rachel DeForrest Repinz

Rachel DeForrest Repinz is a visually impaired artist-scholar based in Brooklyn, NY. She is an editorial board member, editor, and staff writer with thINKingDANCE.

PARTNER CONTENT

Keep Reading

  • Reviews

Shadow Cities: Weaving Histories Through Motion, Music, and Light

Emily “Lady Em” Culbreath

Ephrat Asherie Dance, Arturo O’Farrill, and Kathy Kaufmann take audiences on an exhilarating journey of blurring artistic boundaries.

Four performers share a stage lit in deep blue and purple tones. On the left, a musician sits at a drum kit, focused on his instrument, microphones hanging overhead. At center, another performer is captured mid-jump, arms extended overhead and feet dangle above the floor, as if suspended in motion. Beside him, a musician stands playing an upright bass, leaning slightly into the instrument. A small, moveable stage light sits on the floor in front of him. On the far right, a dancer bends forward in a dynamic pose, one arm reaching back and the other curved in front of her, suggesting swift, expressive movement.
  • Interviews, thINKpieces

The Leaders Behind the Headlines: Conversations with the Kennedy Center’s [Terminated] Dance Programming Team

Ashayla Byrd

What happens when political agendas take precedence over a nation’s desire to feel seen and supported in artistic spaces?

A group of five individuals, dressed in business attire, all gather together for a selfie in the velvet-carpeted lobby of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Jane, at the front left, is a white, brunette woman with a medium pixie cut. Clad in a magenta blazer and black turtleneck, Jane dons a bright, bespectacled smile. Grinning behind Jane, Mallory, a white woman with dirty blonde hair, wears a black and white gingham dress and holds a silver clasp. Malik, a tawny-skinned Black man in a black button-down and trousers, stands beaming at Mallory’s left. Allison and Chloe, dressed in a white button-down and a floral dress respectively, lean into the photo, offering their smiles as well.
Photo courtesy of Ashayla Byrd