Artistic Statement

Debbie Z Maciel | Choreographer & interdisciplinary performance artist

 I makes dances that are fluid streams of thought-provoking images. Rooted in athletic physicality, minutely specified gesture, deep embodiment, and theatrical elements- these images are sewn together in hope of eliciting community conversation and engagement. My recent works investigate community, relationship, and my own immigrant story- bringing dignity to the small moments of our everyday life. My work says dance has a place in our global conversations and can also be a tool for engaging local conversations that reverberate larger societal understanding. Most of my work investigates its’ dancers, unearthing their stories much like a good play, in order to connect audiences to people and experiences they might (on paper) differ from. In my recent solo-work ‘Sabiduria’ performed around NYC, I ask what does a Brazilian-Peruvian daughter of immigrants speaking only Spanish and dancing to only Brazilian music, have to offer the Midwest transplant in the room? I use dance to find our shared language and access our untapped emotion.

I carry with me a varied performance background apart from dance which includes: rapping and spoken word with a hip hop theater troupe, being lead vocalist for an indie folk band in NYC, writing and producing plays, and performing as an actress in several scripted and improvisational productions. These experiences unbind me from medium as a choreographer. My work rooted in rigorous & deeply investigated dance and movement practice also flows in and out of more theatrical elements: narrative, character, speech, and song. I uplift my dancers to embrace the many performance qualities within themselves and to inhabit the wholeness of their body, even their voice. I also carry a history as an educator with communities of all ages (6 months to 92 years) and varied movement backgrounds. The experience of this helps me, and ultimately my work, connect uniquely with many kinds of people.

As an art-maker I never want to tell an audience what to think. Rather I present audiences with fluid sequences of thought-provoking images stunning both in beauty and strikingly raw- like both the romance film and the car crash you can’t look away from. My hope is to elicit conversation and to bubble to the surface that which was already buried in the mind of an on-looker of my work. My other choreographic aim is to develop for my dancers a process of creating dance that is also a channel for knowing themselves better. My choreography is as much process as it is product, and the experience of the dancers through learning movement, participating in writing prompts, and being empowered to join in on the creation and molding of work inevitably informs the work deeply. So there are two parts to this creation: the first to empower the dancers to step in and outside of themselves, the second to inspire the audience through those very dancers to look in and then outside of themselves.  I see dance as a performance-based visual art, in which process is central to product. As such I am equally concerned with how the process is bringing dignity to dancers, and how product is offering enlightenment to audiences. My work relates to the world by being deeply rooted in it, and in its relationships and impacts the world by opening avenues for conversation- in the dance studio; in the audience; on the stage.