The Body Becomes Restless, the Image Appears: Choreography and Political Visuality in Dance

Abstract

This article presents a qualitative comparative study of how choreographic images are produced in Brazilian dance, understanding the image not as a formal illustration but as a perceptual event produced by the body in movement. The analysis focuses on two works created in distinct historical contexts, yet both shaped by right-wing authoritarian regimes: Kuarup (1977), by Ballet Stagium, conceived during the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship, and Objeto Abjeto Ambulante (Wandering Abject Object; 2018), by Coletivo Corpos Falantes, created in the context of the rise of the far right in contemporary Brazil. The study examines how these works produce images organised between two perceptual regimes: the continuous flow of movement and the suspension of gesture, understood as aesthetic and political strategies for critically elaborating historical time. Methodologically, the research combines analysis of audiovisual records, stage photographs, interviews, and publicly circulated materials, treating choreography as a device for producing the sensible. In Kuarup, the choreographic images operate through allegory, myth, and collectivity, producing perceptual experiences that circumvent State censorship without directly naming political violence. In Objeto Abjeto Ambulante, by contrast, the image emerges from the explicit exposure of the peripheral collective body, which articulates historical memory, territorial experiences and the direct enunciation of violence in the present. The comparison shows that choreographic images are inseparable from the historical, institutional, and sensory regimes that produce them, revealing dance as a critical practice that can reorganise ways of seeing and sharing politics through choreographic experience.