Performing Queer Latinidad: Dance, Sexuality, Politics

272 Pages·2012·2.781 MB·English

by  Ramon Rivera-Servera

performing queer latinidad

performing queer latinidad
Dance, Sexuality, Politics
Ramón H. Rivera-Servera
the university of michigan press
Ann Arbor
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2012
All rights reserved
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including
illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections
107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for
the public press), without written permission from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
c Printed on acid- free paper
2015 2014 2013 2012 4 3 2 1
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Rivera- Servera, Ramón H., 1973–
Performing queer latinidad : dance, sexuality, politics / Ramón H. Rivera- Servera.
p. cm. — (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 07139- 5 (cloth : acid- free paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 472- 05139- 7
(pbk. : acid- free paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 472- 02864- 1 (e- book)
1. Gay theater— United States. 2. Hispanic American theater. 3. Homosexuality
and theater. 4. Gays and the performing arts. I. Title.
PN2270.G39R58 2013
792.086'640973— dc23 2012019745
The Northwestern University Research Grants Committee
has provided partial support for the publication of this book. We
gratefully acknowledge their assistance.
For Joel,
In celebration of the Grand Pas de Deux
that is our life together.

acknowledgments
Performing Queer Latinidad is a project written in travel throughout the
United States during the 1990s and into the early 2000s. I first ventured
into this research as a doctoral student in theater at the Graduate Center
of the City University of New York and then at the University of Texas at
Austin. I continued fieldwork and archival research while on the faculty
ranks at Arizona State University and Northwestern University. Critical
support for this project was provided by fellowships and grants from the
Ford Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Herberger Col-
lege of Fine Arts at Arizona State University, and the School of Commu-
nication at Northwestern University. The preparation and publication
of this manuscript is made possible in part by a publication subvention
grant from Northwestern University.
Across the terrain I have encountered an incredibly generous, cre-
ative, and inspirational community of artists, scholars, activists, and
friends who have become my extended family. This project would have
been impossible without their presence in my life.
Arthur Aviles welcomed me to Hunts Point with open arms and gen-
erously shared with me his passion for the neighborhood and his faith in
how the arts could help this embattled but resilient pocket of creativity
feel like home. His artistic work and his vision for the role the arts could
play in his community inspired me in the first place to pursue the re-
search that became this book. I thank Charles Rice- González, Elizabeth
Marrero, Jorge Merced, and the many fierce dancers, performers, and
teatreros who have graced the stages of BAAD!, the Point, Pregones, and
many other gathering spaces in the Bronx with deliciously queer humor
and intelligence.
A little bit farther south, between Loisaida and Fourteenth Street, I
came to know a world of art practice and queer community that sustains
viii acknowledgments
me to this day. Among the many artists that populated my experience of
the Lower East Side, Alina Troyano and Marga Gómez articulate for me
the politics of pleasure and laughter.
In 1999, the good people of the Esperanza Center, especially Graciela
Sánchez, opened the doors of their cultural center. They allowed me ac-
cess to their extensive archives, introduced me to key collaborators in
their struggle to protect their funding and their dignity, and taught me
that feminist and queer politics and Latina/o politics can coexist in cre-
ative friction. Esperanza staff and volunteers, especially Antonia Casta-
ñeda, Virginia Grise, Peter Haney, Amy Keastly, Herminia Maldonado,
René Saenz, and Manuel Solis, were generous with their time and stories.
Their conviction and enthusiasm made hope for justice palpable, even
possible.
I thank Adrián, Clara, Gerry, Gina, Héctor, José, Josué, Juan, Lena,
Linda, Luis, Marisa, Michael, Néstor, Nilda, Rosalinda, Tomás, Yadira,
Victor, Wilbert, William, and the many other club patrons, dancers,
bartenders, bouncers, promoters, and performers I have talked to and
danced with in New York, Rochester, San Antonio, Austin, Phoenix, and
Chicago over the past two decades. I am especially grateful for those who
agreed to participate in this study. You have not only taught me a step or
two on the dance floor but have transformed my life with your comrade-
ship and creativity.
I am fortunate to have worked with an incredible group of mentors
throughout my academic career. At the University of Rochester, Michael
Ann Holly, Douglas Crimp, Claudia Schaefer, and Sharon Willis offered
a strong foundation from which to build my scholarly, artistic and po-
litical interests. Allen Topolski taught me how to integrate theory and
practice in the arts. Lisa Cartwright introduced me to the field of perfor-
mance studies and offered critical early encouragement and guidance.
Rosemary Feal challenged me to think interartistically and interdiscipli-
narily and was an enthusiastic endorser of my venture into a scholarly
career. Ondine Chavoya, Tina Takemoto, Karen Kosasa, Tarek El- Ariss,
and Briget R. Cooks served as role models and allies. Rishad Lawyer
and William Estuardo Rosales became my brothers, Jessica Gerrity my
sister. Garth Fagan, Norwood Pennewell, Steve Humphrey, Bit Knigh-
ton, Natalie Rogers- Cropper, Valentina Alexander, Christopher Mor-
rison, Lavert Benefield, Sharlene Shu, Sharon Skepple, and the rest of
the dancers at Garth Fagan Dance became and continue to be my dance
family. At the City University of New York, Marvin Carlson, Jane Bow-
acknowledgments ix
ers, and Eve Kosofsky-S edgwick were transformative pedagogues who
pushed my engagements with performance. At the University of Texas
at Austin, Ann Daly, Stacy Wolf, Charlotte Canning, and Richard Flores
provided key methodologies for the development of my research agenda
and many hours of dedicated mentorship.
I began my career as a university professor at Arizona State Univer-
sity, where Tamara Underiner was an incredibly supportive and gener-
ous collaborator. Our work together on Theatre and Performance of the
Americas has been as intellectually generative as it has been pleasur-
able. Stephani Woodson, Margaret Knapp, Linda Essig, Lance Gharavi,
Guillermo Reyes, Roger Bedard, Johnny Saldaña, Amira de la Garza,
John J. Leaños, Arthur Sabatini, Chris Danowski, Shelly Cohn, Colleen
Jennings- Roggensack, and Jeff Macmahon made a social and artistic oa-
sis out of the Arizona desert.
Many scholars have influenced and supported my career over the
course of this research. I am especially indebted to Ric Knowles and Di-
ana Taylor for being scholarly models and generous senior colleagues.
I have been inspired by the work of many other scholars and friends.
Among them: Marlon Bailey, Melissa Blanco Biorelli, Bernadette Marie
Calafell, Ernie Capello, Harry Elam Jr., Licia Fiol- Matta, Cindy Garcia,
Marcial Godoy, Patricia Herrera, Josh Kuhn, Larry La Fountain- Stokes,
Jill Lane, Irma Mayorga, Raquel Monroe, Shane Moreman, José Esteban
Muñoz, Deborah Paredez, Rachel Perlmeter, José Quiroga, Ricky Rodrí-
guez, Jon Rossini, Margaret Savilonis, Susan Tenneriello, Maurya Wick-
strom, and Tomás Ybarra- Frausto.
Eng- Beng Lim, Josh Abrams, and Jennifer Parker-S tarbuck have been
anchors throughout this journey. Their intellectual engagements and
friendship have meant the world to me.
Amelia Malagamba-A nsótegui has been a constant presence in my
life since I first enrolled in her doctoral seminar in Austin. The many
hours spent conversing about the arts over a home-c ooked meal have
sustained me over the past decade. Gracias por hacer familia conmigo.
Marvette Pérez is a brilliant scholar, curator, and artist. I thank her for
bringing humor and hopeful anger into my everyday.
Emma Velez- Lopez has been listening to my ideas, both academic
and artistic, since we were sixteen years old. She has always provided
perspective on where we come from and encouragement when the going
gets rough. I am honored to be part of her life.
Jennifer Brody, Dwight McBride, Alejandro Madrid, Agnes Lugo-