Jade Power-Sotomayor

Under colonial repression and the rationalizing ideals of Enlightenment thought, one practice has long carried the pulse of resistance: dance. Habla! explores how the dancing body speaks – how, through movement, sound, and rhythm, Latinx American communities enact forms of knowing and being that "talk back" to colonial modernity. Centering the traditions of Puerto Rican bomba, Mexican son jarocho, and the global phenomenon of perreo, Jade Power-Sotomayor reveals how these practices transform the body into a site of worldbuilding, social critique, and survival. Introducing the concept of "embodied code-switching" – the corporeal strategies people use to move across cultural, linguistic, and affective registers – Power-Sotomayor traces how dancing navigates and disrupts the logics of separability, ownership, and extraction that underpin Western colonial thought. From bomba's dialogue between dancer and drummer to perreo's unapologetic assertion of a pleasure and power rooted in interdependence, Habla! shows how these embodied traditions sustain collective life and offer new grammars of relation. Through performance, community practice, and activist projects, ¡Habla! demonstrates how the dancing, sounding body continues to generate meaning, connection, and possibility. In its motion – rooted and mobile at once – the dancing body speaks beyond words, carrying forward the histories and futures of Latinx América, and remapping the contours of Our América.

Under colonial repression and the rationalizing ideals of Enlightenment thought, one practice has long carried the pulse of resistance: dance. Habla! explores how the dancing body speaks—how, through movement, sound, and rhythm, Latinx American communities enact forms of knowing and being that "talk back" to colonial modernity. Centering the traditions of Puerto Rican bomba, Mexican son jarocho, and the global phenomenon of perreo, Jade Power-Sotomayor reveals how these practices transform the body into a site of worldbuilding, social critique, and survival. Introducing the concept of "embodied code-switching" – the corporeal strategies people use to move across cultural, linguistic, and affective registers – Power-Sotomayor traces how dancing navigates and disrupts the logics of separability, ownership, and extraction that underpin Western colonial thought. From bomba's dialogue between dancer and drummer to perreo's unapologetic assertion of a pleasure and power rooted in interdependence, Habla! shows how these embodied traditions sustain collective life and offer new grammars of relation. Through performance, community practice, and activist projects, ¡Habla! demonstrates how the dancing, sounding body continues to generate meaning, connection, and possibility. In its motion—rooted and mobile at once—the dancing body speaks beyond words, carrying forward the histories and futures of Latinx América, and remapping the contours of Our América.

Luis Valdez studies the life and work of this Chicano playwright, director, performer, and producer along with the implications of his legacy for Chicana/o/x communities and for all who engage with his work. Valdez’s work broadened the scope of theater and arts in the Chicano community, and his formation of El Teatro Campesino brought together students and farmworkers. This volume highlights his professional work and writings. It offers a unique investigation of Luis Valdez, his life, his oeuvre, and his contributions to the theater in the United States and beyond. This book combines:an in-depth biographical overview of Valdez’s life and career, focusing on defining experiences that set his trajectory into motion;an exploration of Valdez’s key writings—the 1973 epic poem Pensamiento Serpentino and the unpublished lecture The Power of Zero which articulate his philosophy of the Theatre of the Sphere;a stylistic analysis of his key works, including Soldado Razo and Zoot Suit as well as their critical reception; anda selection of improvisation and dance-based warm-ups, embodiment exercises, and an acto writing practicum adapted to experiment with Valdez’s works. As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners offer unbeatable value for today’s students.

Luis Valdez studies the life and work of this Chicano playwright, director, performer, and producer along with the implications of his legacy for Chicana/o/x communities and for all who engage with his work. Valdez’s work broadened the scope of theater and arts in the Chicano community, and his formation of El Teatro Campesino brought together students and farmworkers. This volume highlights his professional work and writings. It offers a unique investigation of Luis Valdez, his life, his oeuvre, and his contributions to the theater in the United States and beyond. This book combines:an in-depth biographical overview of Valdez’s life and career, focusing on defining experiences that set his trajectory into motion;an exploration of Valdez’s key writings—the 1973 epic poem Pensamiento Serpentino and the unpublished lecture The Power of Zero which articulate his philosophy of the Theatre of the Sphere;a stylistic analysis of his key works, including Soldado Razo and Zoot Suit as well as their critical reception; anda selection of improvisation and dance-based warm-ups, embodiment exercises, and an acto writing practicum adapted to experiment with Valdez’s works. As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners offer unbeatable value for today’s students.