Latin American Cool: Bodies, Words, Sites

This event examines the idea of ‘cool’ and how it manifests in the forms of dance, philosophy, and poetry in Latin America. The ‘aesthetics of cool’ has historically specific affiliations to black American expressive culture, so what happens when that becomes a lens through which to examine how it manifests in different geographical spaces and places?

In this lecture performance we will endeavour to set up a ‘cool space’ of interaction informed by the aesthetic practices of ‘coolness’ from a Latin American cultural perspective. Ultimately what we endeavour to produce in this lecture performance is a way to think about aesthetics from a decolonial position. This means that we are thinking of what makes art and performance practices ‘beautiful,’ ‘meaningful,’ or ‘cool’ outside of European contexts.

We will be sharing personal experience, theoretical knowledge along with audio-visual examples of what we think is ‘cool’ about Latin American culture practices. If you have an interest in Latin American dance, culture but would like a more critical perspective from which to be able to engage and enjoy it we invite you to be ‘cool’ with us.

Event led by:

Dr Melissa Blanco Borelli, Royal Holloway University of London
and
Dr Anamaría Tamayo Duque, Loughborough University

Image: Wikicommons, Creative Commons Licence