Entering into the serpent

This thesis examines the embodied experience of navigating cultural and racial liminality through the lens of Gloria Anzaldúa’s concept of Nepantla. Derived from the Nahuatl word meaning "in the middle," Nepantla describes the experience of existing both literally and figuratively between multiple cultures. It reflects the internal tensions and negotiations that arise as one grapples with their place and identity within these overlapping and often conflicting cultural spaces. Using an autoethnographic approach, I investigate how movement and gesture reveal the inscripted and physical impacts of being a lone body in a majority space and how my body must adapt to endure. The structure of the thesis unfolds in three distinct sections. It begins with a dynamic unison ensemble performed by ten dancers, transitions into an intimate solo that highlights my isolated presence in the space, and culminates in a third section where I navigate and negotiate my place within a dominant majority. My dual role as performer and choreographer underscores this state of in-betweenness, highlighting the ways agency and power can be taken away or forced upon. These investigations will be in conversation with theories from Noland & Ness, Anzaldúa, Foster, Manning, and many others. By naming my experiences as a Nepantera and positioning myself within competing movement spaces, I aim to illuminate the embodied tensions of navigating cultural, racial, and choreographic in-betweenness as they manifest through gesture and physicality.