Variations in Second Position, Sitting Down
In the Jardim da Estrela in Lisbon, transdisciplinary artist Myrna Renaud films her shadow as she moves through rehabilitation exercises on a park bench; second position reduced to what a broken wrist allows. The video and this text are the same work.
This video ritual is ensconced in a particular spot at the Jardim da Estrela in Lisbon – the park where I dance, stretch, breathe, and embrace the trees. The bench in front of the bamboo patch is favored by my Ancestors in the matrilineal stream of my genetic configuration: the dancing midwife, the spiritualist, the textile artist.
Variations in Second Position, Sitting Down was born from the rehabilitation of a broken wrist. The trauma befalls an old dancer, relevant, yet slowly decimating into a diminished range of motion, deprived of floorwork as she works through therapy. What remains is this: second position, sitting down. A constraint that becomes a form.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Myrna Renaud is a Puerto Rican transdisciplinary artist. Throughout a five-decade career, her practice has expanded from stage choreography into site-specific performance, moving image, and multimedia installations. A co-founder of Barrunto Dancers, Inc. alongside the late Beti García (1952–2022), she is a groundbreaking voice of Caribbean culture and identity. Her work Boundaries Are Not The Sea / Guardarrayas No Son La Mar (2002–2006), performed in London, San Juan, Miami, and Barcelona, stands as her landmark contribution to the field.
