Gestures as Portals is a durational performance for gallery set up or other alternative spaces. It works as an ongoing performance in which visitors are invited to come into the space and stay as long as they wish.
In this project I resume the questions and choreographic methods of While Taking Shape, and I explore them into a durational, site-responsive format with 2 performers.
I approach gestures as portals to memories and as connectors between bodies and experiences. I think of gestures as the ways of positioning oneself in space, in front of others, among others. Gestures are shapes our bodies take in certain situations, which are repeated, inherited, traveling through generations and territories. Gestures are shapes and are also movements, gestures are always relational.
One of the choreographic strategies I use is the slowing down of the movement, the vibration and stillness. They work as invitations to spend time, to pay attention to things that we would otherwise not see, if we want to move forward, to perceive the vibrations of what seems still, to listen to the quite screams of bodies.
In times of high speed and overconsumption of images, when bodies seems to disappear, transformed into digital images, numbers or information, Gestures as Portals is for me an attempt to keep insisting on the question whether it is possible to resonate with others people’s experiences, to feel the way bodies and realities are always connected, demanding our ability to respond.
Gestures as Portals was developed and shared with visitors at Marres -house for contemporary Culture in Maastricht– over a period of 4 weeks (sept-oct 2025).
Credits
Concept and direction: Amparo González Sola
Performance and research: Leandro de Souza, Amparo González Sola
Sound: Nahuel Cano
Light: Vinny Jones
Dramaturgical advice: Bek Berger
Video: Jesus Serrano Huitron
Co-production: Marres, Dansateliers
Gestures as Portals is part of While Taking Shape, a co-production of Dansateliers, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Frascati Producties.
photos: Rob van Hoorn & Jesus Serrano
Amparo Gonzalez Sola 