Nibia Pastrana Santiago
Nibia Pastrana Santiago was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, and is based in San Juan, developing site-specific ‘choreographic events’ to experiment with time, fiction, and notions of territory. She is also co-editing an anthology on Puerto Rican experimental dance. She is a mentor in the Puerto Rican Arts Incubator, a two-year initiative led by Dr. Ramoón Rivera Servera of Northwestern University to support local artists post-hurricanes. She is co-director at Beta Local and also serves as the Dance ProgramAcademic Coordinator at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, the first of its kind in Puerto Rico.
In this ‘choreographic event’ for the Whitney Biennial, Nibia Pastrana Santiago explores and unpacks the concept of the incomplete and unfulfilled, inviting audiences to reconsider different ways to understand choreography. She explores choreography as a demarcation of space and an inherently territorial act. To her, the relationship between choreographer, performer, and audience, is one which is enmeshed in a complex and intricate power dynamic – one that she relates to the U.S.’s colonial force enacted on Puerto Rico. She investigates the history and physical characteristics of San Juan Bay.