“Anti-disciplinary" performance artist Sophie Ortiz is a dancer, choreographer, and cheerleader. They are a proud third-generation San Franciscan, with familial and artistic roots in the historic Mission District. Sophie has developed a movement language, embedded in both technical biomechanics and choreographic “patterned abstraction.” Their current work focuses on the tacit culture of American All-Star cheerleading, from the perspective of an anthropologist, coach, and performer.
Sophie has a BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College. She has performed at the Brick Aux, Montalvo Arts Center, The Neuberger Museum of Art, The Field Center, and on the streets of New York.
WILL CHEER 4 BEER
My work begins in the hyper-world of American competitive cheerleading, a realm approached through the lens of lived experience, political satire, and rigorous contemporary analysis.
Cheer embodies a microcosm of neoliberalism and institutionalized conformity, functioning much like a political cartoon, where outrageous spectacle meets rigid discipline.
Cheer is a ready-made visual allegory for complex societal structures. My methodology is that of translation theory: inviting choreography and languages, already present in eerie convention centers across America, into alternative site-specific works that operate on the threshold of both commercial and conceptual art worlds. This performance practice is a disruption. By transposing technically demanding and “super American!” movements onto a queer adult body, cheerleading’s militaristic and high-performance foundational ingredients are laid bare.
By holding up the mirror to the American spirit, I insist that the world is ready to talk about the various modes of institutionalized striving. A culturally loaded performance language demands re-contextualization, into an art world that pretends to reject mass culture and commercialization.