Pulling Scales
“Remove the rigid plate, the shell, the camouflage. I like to see what lies beyond endurance. Long and dense is the walk towards the core. Pull off your scales to see yourself. To feel yourself. I want to taste the inner walls of your steel body.”
Pulling Scales is a dance performance directed by Henry Rodríguez and created with the collaboration of Lea Katrin ( Elle. ) in the costume design and L’DELTA a.k.a. Henry Rodríguez in the music mix and production. The piece is part of a series of works titled Physical Rootlessness. As its name suggests, this series explores a broken and disjointed physicality, drawing on topics such as identity, repression, and migration essentially.
Pulling Scales is based on the idea of change and transformation. It reflects on the process of awakening, both individual and collective. The approach is connected to Rodríguez's own story, however, it doesn't follow a linear narrative; rather, it juxtaposes, deconstructs, and intersects with other random sub-narratives where reality and fiction are blended. The “caiman, lizard, dog or man” and anything that the audience is open to see, that green character is a symbolism of his birthplace Cuba. Green, sensual, mad and hungry for change. Cuba is known as the pearl and the caiman of the Caribbean therefore the subject in the performance denotes a feeling of been preserved or strictly lucked in an environment not particularly Cuban but where broadcasting and mass media, such as an old television and newspapers, function as devices of high control and domination. Dangerous tools, yet obsolete. The hostile environment represents a loop in which society has been trapped for a very long time, smashed like tiny lizards and cockroaches under the yoke of distorted communist ideals and extreme surreal right wing minds.
In this work, Rodríguez collaborates in the making of costumes with Lea Katrin ( Elle. ), an interdisciplinary artist and creative researcher who explores the idea of fashion, the cloth and the performance with the aim of questioning the ( somatic self - ) healing opportunities of the dressed moving body participating within a group setting. Lea Katrin ( Elle. ) dives in topics such re - coding shapes of evolutions towards the safer, the non - hierarchical approach within choreography making + camera work, a gaze in club - spaces, marginalised groups, peaceful fight for rights of all ( Sex ) Workers , Dancers ( In Training ) , Models and garment/ event producers, among others.
CREDITS
Choreography & Performance - Henry Rodríguez
Costumes - Henry Rodríguez & Lea Katrin ( Elle. )
Videography / Photography - Jos Mauro Witteveen Villagómez & Martin van Drunen
Music - Leaving the Matrix mix and production by L’DELTA
featuring Kelly Lee Owens, Erik Truffaz & Murcof
Premiered at Intimate Portraits and presented by Stichting Kunsten Dialoog, 2024
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
