This Senior Thesis is centered around three spaces in the Southwest of the United States— the U.S. Mexico Border (in The Rio Grand Valley, Texas and San Diego, California), The Mission District (San Francisco, CA) and Chicano Park (Barrio Logan, CA). This Thesis in organized in three chapters— one for each place. These spaces are united by their significance to those who identify as Chicano— a Mexican-American identity with political roots. I recount my experiences in these spaces— what I saw, smelled, felt, heard— how bodies moved, connected, and engaged— what my presence meant/means. I then investigate the dynamics of each space— focusing particularly on the power, subversion, and resistance of art. In discussion, I draw from scholars’ work on performance, body and spacial politics as well as my own experience as a dancer and choreographer. I am interested in investigating space and bodies. I want to understand the meanings these entities have, take on, or are forcibly given. I argue that in the three spaces I focus on this Thesis, we witness what I call “a choreography of reclamation”. This is a process of reordering, challenging and shifting space and the entities within both physically and emotionally.
The author has given permission for this work to be deposited in the Digital Archive of Colorado College.
Colorado College Honor Code upheld.
Includes bibliographical references.
The author has given permission for this work to be deposited in the Digital Archive of Colorado College.
Colorado College Honor Code upheld.
