Miguel Gutierrez

Miguel Gutierrez (he/him) is multi-disciplinary artist based in Lenapehoking/Brooklyn, NY and Tovaangar/Los Angeles. He creates empathetic and irreverent spaces for QTPOC folx to dream. His work has been presented internationally in venues such as Festival d’Automne/Paris, the Walker Art Center, and in the 2014 Whitney Biennial. He is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, United States Artists Fellowship, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award, four NY Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards, and a 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award. He is an Associate Professor of Choreography at UCLA in the department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. miguelgutierrez.org

Returning Choreographic Fellow | August 27 - September 1

Archive Residency

Returning Choreographic Fellow Miguel Gutierrez came to MANCC as MANCC’s third Archive Residency Fellow in September 2023 and will be returning in Fall 2024 with his performance collaborators for the second of his two residencies as a Fellow. A pilot and singular initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation, this program offers artists who have accumulated considerable creative process documentation in the MANCC archives, through multiple residencies, the opportunity to work with these materials in ways they deem most useful for their current creative practice.

During Gutierrez’s two MANCC archive residencies, he and his collaborators are examining questions of archive, memory, and how context moves us into relation with ourselves and each other. How does the present re-shape our view of the past? How does the past tell us something about how bodies are changing? By toggling the lens of attention between the past and the present, this project serves as a form of research for Gutierrez into how both our perception of being together and our understanding of what bodies/people are and do is profoundly changing.

Kristen Juarez, an archivist and senior research specialist for the African American Art History Initiative at the Getty Research Institute joined Gutierrez remotely in his first archive residency in Fall 2023 to review footage and images from his five MANCC residencies between 2006 – 2015 (each supporting the development of new work, four works in total). This work helped seed the planning for his second residency in Fall 2024 for Untitled, his new project. Untitled will engage performers from New York and Los Angeles - Justin Faircloth (NYC), Wendell Gray (NYC), Ajani Brannum (LA) and Evelyn Sanchez (LA) - in such questions that explore how the dynamics of previous processes appear with today’s lens, shaped as it is by current concerns of racial justice, climate crisis, and political division.

  • Photos Coming Soon
Collaborator in Residence: Kristin Juarez

Returning Choreographic Fellow | December 1 - 14, 2014

Age & Beauty Part 2: Asian Beauty @ the Werq Meeting or The Choreographer & Her Muse or &:@&

Returning Choreographic Fellow Miguel Gutierrez came to MANCC to develop Age & Beauty Part 2: Asian Beauty @ the Werq Meeting or The Choreographer & Her Muse or &:@&.  The work is the second installment in a suite of queer pieces that addresses the representation of the dancer, the physical and emotional labor of performance, tropes about the aging gay choreographer, the interaction of art making with administration, the idea of "queer time," futurity, and mid-life anxieties about relevance, sustainability and artistic burnout. The piece uses retrospection and archive to trouble what Walter Benjamin calls “the hellish return of the same,” to demonstrate how relationships, money and flights of fancy are at the center of all art making, and to create a blueprint for the future.  Gutierrez was previously in residence in January 2014 to develop Age & Beauty Part 1: Mid-Career Artist/Suicide Note or &:-/, a work in which dancer Mickey Mahar was nominated for a New York Dance and Performance Award, aka a Bessie.

While at MANCC, Gutierrez met with Modern Languages and Linguistics Professor, Dr. Enrique Alvarez, who had attended a showing and provided feedback for Age & Beauty Part 1 during Gutierrez’s previous residency. The Scholarly Entrypoint allowed the two to delve further into the themes and context of these first two works in the artist’s planned trilogy.

Gutierrez also taught a workshop for School of Dance and Theatre students, faculty and community members. The workshop, Queer Choreographies: Whatever the Fuck That Means. A decomposition workshop, provided an opportunity for participants to examine the meaning of performance that identifies as "queer,” through their own movement explorations.

During the residency, the role of understudy Sean Donovan was developed to include him as a full member of the cast, assuming the character previously played by Gutierrez. Along with the expansion of Donovan’s part, time at MANCC allowed for further experimentation and refinement of the text, movement and production elements.  

At the end of the residency, Gutierrez and collaborators shared work-in-progress material in an informal showing. The post-showing discussion allowed audience members representing a diverse FSU faculty landscape (Dance, Theatre, Art History, Religion, Fine Arts) to provide feedback on the in-progress material that they had just seen. A discussion also ensued around the opportunities and challenges of building creative work in the current performing arts landscape.  

This residency was made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

  • Ben Pryor and Sean Donovan
  • Sean Donovan
  • Ben Pryor, Miguel Gutierrez and Michelle Boulé
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> rehearsal
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> rehearsal
  • Miguel Gutierrez discusses his work with Dr. Enrique Alvarez
  • FSU student Megan Carvajal works with Miguel Gutierrez during the <i>Queer Choreographies</i> workshop
  • <i>Queer Choreographies</i> workshop
  • <i>Queer Choreographies</i> workshop
  • FSU student Ross Daniel works with Sean Donovan during the <i>Queer Choreographies</i> workshop
  • FSU student Erika Hand in the <i>Queer Choreographies</i> workshop
  • Miguel Gutierrez leads the <i>Queer Choreographies</i> workshop
  • Miguel Gutierrez leads the <i>Queer Choreographies</i> workshop
  • Miguel Gutierrez and Lighting Designer Lenore Doxsee
  • Michelle Boulé rehearses <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i>
  • Miguel Gutierrez and Sound/Video Tech Leo Martin
  • Ben Pryor and Sean Donovan rehearse <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i>
  • Miguel Gutierrez and Ben Pryor rehearse <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i>
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> rehearsal
  • Michelle Boulé and Ben Pryor rehearse <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i>
  • Miguel Gutierrez
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty Part 2</i> Informal Showing

Collaborators in residence: Michelle Boulé [performer], Lenore Doxsee [lighting designer], Ben Pryor [manager/performer], Sean Donovan [understudy/performer], Leo Martin [sound/video tech], Sarah Lurie [production manager]

Returning Choreographic Fellow | January 20 - February 2, 2014

Age & Beauty Part 1: Mid-Career Artist/Suicide Note or &:-/

Miguel Gutierrez returned to MANCC to develop the first part of a new suite of queer pieces titled Age & Beauty. The project deals with the challenge of being a mid-career artist and the attendant questions of longevity, sustainability, aesthetic signature and burnout.

While at MANCC, Gutierrez developed movement vocabulary, original sound and text for Part 1 of the series, a duet with Mickey Mahar. Part 1 will premiere during the Whitney 2014 Biennial where it will be shown multiple times in one day. Gutierrez simulated the performance at the Whitney by running the piece three times a day for multiple audiences. The first two showings were attended by students and faculty from the FSU Schools of Dance and Theater. Actors and artists from Tallahassee, along with scholars from across FSU, gathered for the final showing of Age & Beauty, which was followed by a post-show discussion. After the final showing Gutierrez engaged the audience in discussion about the ideals that are established by age and beauty and his exploration of the futurity of his own work. 

Age & Beauty premiered during the Whitney 2014 Biennial April 23- May 4, 2014. 

This residency was made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

  • Gutierrez rehearses text from <i>Age & Beauty</i>
  • Miguel Gutierrez, Mickey Mahar and Alex Rodabaugh rehearse
  • Gutierrez and Mahar
  • Mickey Mahar, Miguel Gutierrez, Alex Rodabaugh and Lenore Doxsee
  • Mahar and Gutierrez
  • Rodabaugh and Mahar
  • Doxsee and Rodabaugh observe Gutierrez and Mahar
  • Gutierrez and Mahar
  • Gutierrez and Mahar
  • Gutierrez and Mahar
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>Age & Beauty</i> Informal Showing
Collaborators in Residence: Mickey Mahar [performer], Alex Rodabaugh [understudy], Lenore Doxsee [lighting designer] Slideshow photos by Chris Cameron.

Returning Choreographic Fellow | June 9 - 28, 2014

Deep South Spring 2014

Returning Choreographic Fellow Miguel Gutierrez partnered with Returning MANCC Media Fellow Alex Ketley to continue the work Ketley began with No Hero, a dance project using video, music and live performance to document dance across the Pacific Northwest, including rural localities. To continue the research in examining dance outside the studio and concert stage, Gutierrez and Ketley traveled south, spending nearly a month traveling through Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, exploring what dance and concert dance means and can mean to rural communities. Performers Michelle Boulé and Sara Woods joined Gutierrez and Ketley during their travels.

As in No Hero, the project uses dance as the prism to study the beauty, confusion and economic and social stratification that shapes the diverse American landscape. The choreographers and collaborating artists later returned to MANCC to develop the new work and FSU’s Ringling Museum’s Historic Asolo Theater hosted the world premiere in 2015.

This residency was funded by the inaugural Princess Grace Foundation Choreography Mentorship Co-Commission Award.

  • Co-choreographer Miguel Gutierrez
  • Alex Ketley performs in a diner
  • Collaborator Michelle Boulé dances with area dancer
  • Collaborator Sara Woods performs in a restaurant
  • Miguel Gutierrez sings outside a barber shop
  • Gutierrez explores movement during travels in the South
  • Alex Ketley and Miguel Gutierrez
  • Alex Ketley

Collaborators: Miguel Gutierrez [co-choreographer], Michelle Boulé, Sara Woods [performers]. Slideshow photos by Alex Ketley

Returning Choreographic Fellow | August 26 - September 2, 2012

And lose the name of action 2012

Gutierrez returned to MANCC for the second of a two-part residency focusing on the production and finalization of his evening length piece, And lose the name of action. The piece is the performance result of three years’ worth of research into the over-lapping and divergent conceptions of mind/body in the fields of neurology, embodied philosophy, somatic practices, improvisation, and the paranormal. The six performers came together to form an incongruent family and create a moving scéance for the 21st Century. Inspired by Jorgen Leth’s film The Perfect Human, the elusive logic of dance improvisation, philosophical quandaries about the brain, and the 19th century spiritualist movement, And lose the name of action draws connections between the analytical and the unexplainable, grappling with the limits of language and the ever present specter of death. In reference to this work, Gutierrez writes, “My work has always looked at the ways in which we look for meaning and location in the world, and with this new project I hope to articulate these questions in the most complicated and sophisticated way yet.” ??

?This residency focused on the final production logistics, including lighting, staging, and set design. Experimenting with projections, parachutes, and risers, Gutierrez and his collaborators used the residency as a means to put the finishing touches on the piece’s intricate set design along with showing the work in progress to a live audience followed by a dialogue session.

And lose the name of action premiered at the Walker Art Center ?September 19-21, 2012.

This residency was made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

  • Boru O’Brien O’Connell and Grant McDonald
  • <i>And lose the name of action</i> Rehearsal
  • Miguel Gutierrez in <i>And lose the name of action</i>
  • Ishmael Houston-Jones in <i>And lose the name of action</i>
  • Ishmael Houston-Jones in <i>And lose the name of action</i>
  • Miguel Gutierrez in <i>And lose the name of action</i>
  • Gutierrez leads dancers through rehearsal
  • K.J. Holmes in <i>And lose the name of action</i>
  • <i>And lose the name of action</i>
  • Luke George and K.J. Holmes in rehearsal
  • Gutierrez and Houston-Jones discussing philosophy
  • Ishmael Houston-Jones
  • <i>And lose the name of action</i>
  • Michelle Boule and K.J. Holmes in <i>And lose the name of action</i> showing
  • Clark and George are accompanied by projected, scrolling text during their duet
  • Ishmael Huston-Jones and Gutierrez perform a duet on chairs
  • Clark and Gutierrez in <i>And lose the name of action</i> Informal Showing
  • Luke George performing a solo in <i>And lose the name of action</i> showing
  • <i>And lose the name of action</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>And lose the name of action</i> Informal Showing
  • Holmes and George in <i>And lose the name of action</i> Informal Showing
  • K.J. Holmes and Gutierrez in <i>And lose the name of action</i> Informal Showing
  • Gutierrez, Boule and Clark in <i>And lose the name of action</i> Informal Showing
  • <i>And lose the name of action</i> Informal Showing
  • Hillary Clark and Luke George

Collaborators in Residence: Michelle Boulé, Hilary Clark, Luke George, K.J. Holmes, Ishmael Houston-Jones [performers], Natalie Robin [production manager], Neal Medlyn [sound designer], Boru O'Brien O'Connell [multi-channel film installation and writing], Lenore Doxsee [lighting designer]. Slideshow photos by Chris Cameron.

Returning Choreographic Fellow | March 27th - April 18th, 2011

And lose the name of action 2011

Gutierrez returned to MANCC in the first of a two part residency to work on a new evening length piece, And lose the name of action. The piece is the performance result of three years’ worth of research into the over-lapping and divergent conceptions of mind/body in the fields of neurology, embodied philosophy, somatic practices, improvisation and the paranormal. In reference to this work Gutierrez writes, “My work has always looked at the ways in which we look for meaning and location in the world, and with this new project I hope to articulate these questions in the most complicated and sophisticated way yet.”

In both content and form, Gutierrez conceived a series of innovative Entrypoints and modalities of creative research, which reflected the cross-disciplinary scope of his current work. While in residence, he conducted interviews with imminent scholar Dr. Richard Shusterman, Director of the Center for Body, Mind, and Culture at Florida Atlantic University, as well as FSU faculty in the Philosophy and Neuroscience departments, gave a lecture on the origins of the new work, hosted an INEFFABLE INTANGIBLE SENSATIONAL workshop for students, engaged in extensive studio-based research, and moderated a "Mind/Body Problem" panel discussion with the wider Tallahassee community.

This residency was made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

  • Gutierrez engages students in FSU School of Dance Forum.
  • Gutierrez speaks at FSU School of Dance Forum.
  • Gutierrez performs at FSU School of Dance Forum.
  • Gutierrez performs at FSU School of Dance Forum.
  • Gutierrez performs at FSU School of Dance Forum.
  • Ishmael Houston-Jones and Michelle Boulé in rehearsal.
  • Boru O’Brien O’Connel in rehearsal.
  • Gutierrez in rehearsal.
  • Gutierrez in rehearsal
  • Luke George, Ishmael Houston-Jones and Hilary Clark in rehearsal.
  • Michelle Boulé in rehearsal.
  • Luke George, Michelle Boulé and Hilary Clark in rehearsal.
  • FSU Professor Dan Wagoner participates in the Mind/Body Problem discussion.
  • Gutierrez introduces Dr. Richard Shusterman during FSU Mind/Body Problem discussion.
  • Big Bend Ghost Tracker Betty Davis participates in the Mind/Body Problem discussion.
  • Gutierrez facilitates Mind/Body Problem discussion during MANCC residency.
  • Dr. Richard Shusterman, Michelle Boulé, Miguel Gutierrez, Dan Wagoner, Betty Davis, Christine McVicker
  • Miguel Gutierrez talks with FSU School of Dance audience about his work in progress <i>and lose the name of action</i>.
  • Hilary Clark performs as part of Informal Showing.
  • Miguel Gutierrez performs as part of Informal Showing.
  • Miguel Gutierrez and Luke George perform as part of Informal Showing.
  • Hilary Clark performs as part of Informal Showing.
  • Miguel Gutierrez, Michelle Boulé and Hilary Clark perform at Informal Showing.
  • Michelle Boulé performs as part of Informal Showing.
  • Miguel Gutierrez performs as part of Informal Showing.
  • Luke George performs as part of Informal Showing.
  • Luke George performs as part of Informal Showing.
  • Luke George performs as part of Informal Showing.
  • Miguel Gutierrez and Luke George perform as part of Informal Showing.
  • Miguel Gutierrez, Michelle Boulé, Luke George and Hilary Clark perform as part of Gutierrez's Informal Showing.

Collaborators in Residence: Michelle Boulé, Hilary Clark, Luke George, K.J. Holmes, Ishmael Houston-Jones [performers], Neal Medlyn [sound designer], Boru O’Brien O’Connell [video artist], Lenore Doxsee [lighting designer]. Slideshow photos by Chris Cameron, Al Hall, Shoko Letton, and Bridget Williams.

Choreographic Fellow | October 22 – November 9, 2006

Everyone and myendlesslove

Gutierrez divided his time between the movement, audio, and visual investigation for Everyone and the staging of his solo myendlesslove. Gutierrez sought to find a new mode or sensibility for his work in which the performance serves as an experience, a condition or situation which houses the audience and performers, rather than a presentation or product for consumption. Community was invited to participate in Gutierrez’s experience-based exercises, and to observe and discuss work in progress showings of both pieces.

Myendlesslove premiered at MIX NYC: The Experimental Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival in October, 2006.

Everyone premiered at Abrons Arts Center in March, 2007.

Collaborators in Residence: Chris Forsyth [musician + composer], Michelle Boulé, Isabel Lewis, Elizabeth Ward, Otto Ramstad [dancers]

Featured Artist

Faye Driscoll

Weathering
February 22 - 24
Carolina Performing
Arts, UNC Chapel Hill

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