Paper short abstract:

How does performance intersect with ontology? How does Grupo Sotz’il, a Kaqchikel contemporary dance group, perform ontological critique? This will trace ontology’s movements across borders and ask how this is transforming theory. Finally, how does all this respond to the the ambiguity of the future?

Paper long abstract:

I propose to discuss the meeting between 'movement' and 'ontology' in two senses. First, how movement, specifically embodied forms of expression such as dance and performance, has intersected in various ways with the term ontology. Secondly, I will discuss how embodied movement as ontological critique is practiced and theorized in a specific 'ethnographic' context—that is to say, intellectual tradition, whether written, or not. In this case, I will pay attention to how this ontological critique is 'danced' by Grupo Sotz'il, a Kaqchikel Maya contemporary performance group from Solola, Guatemala. The proposed discussion will contribute to the tracing of ontology's movements across disciplinary and geographic borders. It will also add to the interrogation of how these oscillations are transforming theoretical understandings. Finally, I will inquire into the ways that this meeting of worlds—and ontological "stories"—respond to the problems faced by the Kaqchikel Maya nation in Guatemala and other places with similar political, social, and ecological challenges.