Ensemble performance in the Rio Grande
Staged in the mostly-dry riverbed of the Rio Grande in the summer of 2025, Laughing doesn’t need your help was a contemporary dance project envisioning a cosmic pull toward connection, even when relief from everyday struggle feels inconceivable.
Amid the present moment of climate catastrophe, rapidly escalating administrative violence, and widespread anxiety, a cast of queer, melanated, and allied performers are born from a murky collective unconscious into their own looping, improvised movement cycles that lead, perhaps inexplicably, back into joyful, muddy communion.
Credits
- Produced and directed by Rica Maestas
- Choreography development by Julianna Massa and Stella Melina
- Performed by Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales, Zoe Luh, Rica Maestas, Julianna Massa, Stella Melina, Paloma Navarrete, Ernestina Savage, Stacia Vu, and Hannah Yohalem
- Soundscape by Ryan Parker
- Videography by mk
- Photos by Jenn Carrillo
- Supported by Fulcrum Fund, a grant program of 516 Arts in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation
- Special thanks to Black Widow Pole Arts
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