Based on critical ethnography as well as choreographic analysis and historical research, this project approaches the under-theorized dances of Caboclo, a hybrid gang of “cowboy and Indian” divinities who feature in the Afro-syncretic ritual practices of Candomblé in Northeastern Brazil. Emerging at the intersection of patriotism, emancipation from colonial rule, indigenous historicities and New World masculinities, Caboclo arrive as guests at festas held in their honor and perform vernacular sambas that riff on Brazil’s popular, national dance form. Outcasts and anti-heroes embodied by female and feminized practitioners through mobile forms of counter-hegemonic play, Caboclo de- and re-construct samba’s national- ized, sexualized and racial narratives and challenge Brazil’s dominant, increasingly right-wing moral-sexual configurations.
Mika Lillit Lior's research focuses on the dances and corporeal politics of Candomblé ritual in and around Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. Lior is a PhD Candidate in Culture and Performance at the University of California, Los Angeles with choreographic practices based in samba, capoeira, contact improvisation and concert dance forms.
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