{"id":1522,"date":"2013-08-13T17:48:26","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T21:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2013-08-13T17:48:26","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T21:48:26","slug":"niv-acosta-dance-influenced-performance-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/niv-acosta-dance-influenced-performance-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Niv Acosta: Dance Influenced Performance Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Niv Acosta is a classically trained dancer using that background to examine American black masculinity. Born to a Dominican mother and identifying as a queer trans man, Niv uses his personal and political identity to create performances that utilize personal writing, dance, and pop music.<\/em><\/p>\n

Interviewer: Annie Malamet<\/p>\n

Photographer: Yasmine Laraqui and Charles Roussel<\/p>\n

\n

A: Ok, so,. I know that you were originally a dancer. How did you come to performance art?<\/p>\n

N: I think there\u2019s a sort of\u2026and I think this is a conversation that keeps coming up in dance, is that dance is beginning to lend itself to visual art. Not just conceptually but aesthetically I think a lot of people are thinking more and more about their aesthetics because there seems to be\u2026I don\u2019t know. People are more interested in being in non-conventional spaces and peroforming performing and also exploring different mediums because it just feels like a nice bridge. It\u2019s a very organic bridge to go to. So performance art became how I was describing my art because it felt like dance was too limiting after a while, because I\u2019m working not just with movement but conceptually with my political identity and how I\u2019m interacting with society at large. For lack of a better term \u201cperformance art\u201d is where I went. There\u2019s limitations with any label.<\/p>\n

A: Yeah, I mean your work is definitely more dance dance-heavy than other performance art.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah my work is\u2026I come from a dance background and that\u2019s like what my work is, it\u2019s dance. But because of the complex ideas that I\u2019m working with, performance art is more lenient. I feel like, in performing in museums and working with and interacting with visual arts and being in the visual arts world, people are more accepting and able to talk,. Whereas whereas, with dance, there are so many things that are so fucking archaic and gendered and normative. It\u2019s just in general, and not to say that dance is horrible, but in general it has a history of limitations.<\/p>\n

A: Yeah, that\u2019s understandable.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah, so that\u2019s how I came to describe my work as that.<\/p>\n

A: So, I mean, you kind of just answered this. I just wanted to know: what do you feel is the influence of dance, like traditional dance, or any kind of dance background, on your artistic practice?<\/p>\n

N: Well,. Just just like we all have some sort of childhood focus. – Like like we all either took music lessons or ballet or tap, or whatever it was. – I went to the Martha Graham school of contemporary dance in the city and was on scholarship there through most of High School, and Martha Graham had more codified techniques of modern dance, and it\u2019s very old at this point. You know, she kind of started from this very feminist, – like this first-wave feminism- sort of getting into only only-women women-performing and being very powerful and empowered through their movement. And so, having that in my history, I feel like I am pulling from that in my work. Her work is extremely melodramatic, and I sort of play with that ironically in my work because I think that is really accessible to a dance audience. But obviously I don\u2019t think you\u2019d recognize my work as Graham Graham-influenced. Just that is my history and I\u2019m using that as a vehicle to express [myself] in an accessible way, I guess. But yeah my training is like, ever present, because I\u2019m conforming [to it] in my own work, and my body is my medium, and my body has this memory of all these things, so there\u2019s no other way, : I can\u2019t not have the history I have in my work, because it\u2019s coming from me, and what [it] comes from me and it expresses what I\u2019m interested in now but also what I used to be interested in when I was 17 years old.<\/p>\n

\"Niv<\/a><\/p>\n

A: Yeah, your work is very personal and confessional in a lot of ways but also politically driven.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah.<\/p>\n

A: So, you talk about this on your website, but I wanted you to tell me about the Denzel series. How did you start it, what are the main themes you\u2019re working with, [and] why Denzel Washington? I read about it, but I wanted to hear it from you.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah, we can talk about it. So, when I was starting to choreograph again, which was in 2009\/2010, I had taken a 2 year hiatus from directing or creating anything, because I had a really traumatic experience at Cal Arts, so I needed to find out if that\u2019s what I actually wanted to do. So I took 2 years off, and I kind of came back to creating work with [just]really wanting to be present and honest about my needs. And not just my needs like: \u201cI need bread;\u201d but: \u201cI need to feel safe in my working environment;.\u201d Or or: \u201cI need to express myself always.\u201d \u201cI need to be present while I\u2019m performing.\u201d I was sort of addressing all these needs that I hadn\u2019t really learned to express previously. So, when I started the Denzel series, I started with a solo. They were called Denzel and Denzel Prelude. it It was a two two-part solo. And i[I]nitially, I had watched the trailer of Glory (the film with Matthew Broderick and Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington). And and I was like\u2026\u2026 really enchanted by how rhythmic the movement [was]s throughout\u2026.. I think this movie premiered in the 80\u2019s or early 90\u2019s\u2026 and And there\u2019s like, a melody or a rhythm to how it\u2019s shot\u2026 literally. But also the music, : they were using this classical piece called O Fortuna, which uses a choir of singers, and it\u2019s and VERY dramatic. And so having the image of Matthew Broderick and Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, and then also knowing the context of the story, – I don\u2019t know if you know it, – but it has to do with the civil war and having these newly freed slaves come and fight at the front lines at Fort Hamilton. Like pretty much untrained, [they] just gave them a gun and put them on the front lines. Which, in and of itself historically, is like so shitty and so sad. And I was in a very dark place at that time\u2026<\/p>\n

A: So it was speaking to you.<\/p>\n

N: Exactly! That\u2019s what I wanted to talk about and what I wanted to think about. So it started out as being able to relate to the story. But also starting to get more specific, I was grappling with my own gender identity at that time, and really coming into owning my masculine identity and have [having] that be present in my work and not have [having] that be a statement about masculinity necessarily. Like, indirectly it\u2019s about everything, but it actually comes from my interest in black masculinity and how that\u2019s represented in the media. And Denzel being this sort of archetype, and Morgan Freeman, : like all \u2026black male actors that are doing well, are constantly type type-casted. And in that way the film industry is so behind, like I wish so much\u2026\u2026 not to say that there aren\u2019t people who are trying to do that[reverse that kind of type-casting]. Like fucking Orange is the New Black, we haven\u2019t gotten that far.<\/p>\n

A: Yeah.<\/p>\n

N: So thinking about how people see black men and black masculinity, and feeling sort of distraught, as if my identity as a black, male-identified person was doomed to fail or [be] type type-casted or ostracized. To be the other always and forever. So grappling with that in the work, I guess I also starting start[ed] to get down with my femininity at the same time. Like I had finally started to practice voguing, which I had always been really obsessed with and grew [growing] up in the community. And I started to incorporate that into my movement practice. So Denzel- ever since day one- has always been about gender and gender representation, but also black masculinity and how that feels really diverse and outside of what is being projected onto my body as someone who is [masculine masculine-identityidentified]. I mean my work is\u2026 the Denzel series is very personal, as you were saying. I work with family, I work with friends, with people I trust and know and love, and that feels very important to the Denzel process as well.<\/p>\n

A: Yeah, you were just talking about voguing\u2026and I read on your website that you want to incorporate voguing and throwing shade [into your work]. And you talk a lot about black masculinity, but I notice that- you know, [extrapolating] from my (granted) limited knowledge, – voguing and shade comes from queer black masculinity. So can you speak to that identity?<\/p>\n

N: Sure. Whose identity you mean, mine or\u2026? \u2026?<\/p>\n

A: Yeah, like how that plays into the idneity identity that you\u2019re trying to create in the piece.<\/p>\n

N: Sure, yeah.<\/p>\n

A: \u2026Because I feel like there is, in the larger culture, theres straight masculinity and queer masculinity, and they overlap, but Denzel is this sort of straight, male icon, but the voguing is this tradition that\u2019s rooted in the queer community. How do you see those two things connecting?<\/p>\n

N: Yeah, I think those two things don\u2019t feel separate to me. I identify as queer, and I don\u2019t know. \u2026 I guess my access point to voguing is by having lived inside that community, being raised in that community. My mom is HIV HIV-positive and pretty much all of our holiday parties were with\u2026 not to say that we\u2019re all family, but we have a lot of friends that are queer men of color and are voguers and would have voguing competitions. or Or they\u2019d come over for holiday parties and we\u2019d all hang out, and you know, have a kiki. And in the HIV\/AIDS community that\u2019s sort of what is ever present, which is queer men of color. And then, like, my mom, and a few other female female-idenitified people, including trans women. And they\u2019re all people of color. I don\u2019t think I ever really met anything other than that. So I have a deep affinity for that community and feel tied to it. It feels like a part of me. Having- after so many years, – being Dominican and having a deeply embedded racism towards being dark skinned, hating myself for being dark skinned;. aAnd then in my 20\u2019s, coming out of the closet as black and OWNING owning it, and being happy about it, and seeing that I\u2019m awesome because of it\u2026 and there is nothing wrong with that.<\/p>\n

A: So it\u2019s kind of almost an act of embracing that part of who you are.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah that part of my identity. And you know, it\u2019s hard too you know because, I grew up Dominican, and that\u2019s Hispanic culture. However, walking through the world, I am black. People think I\u2019m mixed race, half black half white, or whatever it is, I\u2019m still black and that\u2019s how I\u2019m going to be treated. And going to a predominantly black high school and being called an Oreo or a coconut because I wasn\u2019t from the \u201chood\u201d or spoke \u201chood\u201d or whatever it is\u2026that always made me feel disconnected from other people who were my color. And finally having [I have] the distance and time and lack of angst to get over that and accept that part of myself as something that was beautiful and empowering. So coming back to my work, being queer queer-idenitified identified and also seeing black masculinity represented in media as mostly heterosexual. Like when there\u2019s a black gay man represented its mostly for comedic relief.<\/p>\n

\"Niv<\/a><\/p>\n

A: Totally.<\/p>\n

N: It\u2019s always some sort of funny minstrel minstrel-type character. I\u2019m not saying that Denzel is my role model through this. I feel like, if anything, I\u2019m challenging the presence of that[him], or Morgan Freeman or any of them, as an archetype. As people they\u2019re probably awesome, you know what I mean? But I\u2019m directly confronting how people project onto their bodies.<\/p>\n

A: Using stereotypes to reconcile your own identity.<\/p>\n

N: Exactly. Appropriating stereotypes.<\/p>\n

A: Yeah better word. (laughing) So how many incarnations of this piece have there been?<\/p>\n

N: There are now six.<\/p>\n

A: Wow that\u2019s cool. I like how you just keep going.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah (laughing)<\/p>\n

A: Yeah I watched every video on your website. I noticed there\u2019s subtle changes, I can see the trajectory. Is all of the dancing improvised?<\/p>\n

N: Um, that is a great question. Most\u2026.certainly (both laughing). However, I like to work with a structured improvisation in most of my work. There are landmarks and to me, it\u2019s a conversation with myself. I think there are moments of deep structure in my work. There\u2019s a section in denzel minipetite b a t h t u b happymeal\u2026where the piece is mostly just speaking and then there\u2019s movement. There\u2019s a lot of speaking going on and movement feels secondary to that. I think what\u2019s interesting about that piece is that it is very structured because it\u2019s bookended by text. Text that is very scripted and written down and meant to be performed the same exact way each time. But then I have this[the improvised piece], and I like to have the tensions of many choices during a live performance. I\u2019m working with a few landmarks. Not very hard landmarks, but certainly ones that feel important to the work or what I\u2019m trying to convey. The progression feels mapped. However, there\u2019s a sort of freedom in how we approach it as performers.<\/p>\n

A: I noticed in one of the videos one of the performers says \u201cOpulence- you own everything.\u201d And I know that that\u2019s from Paris is Burning.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah it is.<\/p>\n

A: And you also read text at the beginning. Is that your writing? What you feel is the role of prose in your work? Are these letters to Denzel?<\/p>\n

N: So\u2026 I\u2019ve written so many letters to Denzel. Not the person, but the character I\u2019m developing. And in that piece, denzel b a t h t u b, that was a letter to Denzel from me, the director of the work. I\u2019m kind of explaining my obsession\/love and hate relationship to the idea of Denzel. But also\u2026 we\u2019re in love. It\u2019s such a complex relationship that will ebb and flow forever. I go deep into how it\u2019s intertwined in my won own life. It\u2019s biographical, ; it isn\u2019t just talking about this mythical character I\u2019ve created. I\u2019m really leaking in my own personal things about how I see work, how I see myself in work, how I feel when I\u2019m performing. I did write that. \u00a0Almost all the text I wrote except for a few appropriating passages.<\/p>\n

A: What about the \u201cyour ass looks like an overgrown orangutan\u201d line? Is that yours? (laughing)<\/p>\n

N: Um\u2026 I\u2019m trying to think. \u201cOrangutan\u201d\u2026 that sentiment comes from Paris is Burning directly, I think. I forget her name. She\u2019s very fair and has blonde hair.<\/p>\n

A: Oh is that the woman who was murdered afterwards? I think her name was Venus.[1]<\/p>\n

N: I don\u2019t remember. But yeah she says something like\u2026 this was a moment of throwing shade, and she says something along the lines of \u201corangutan.\u201d So I just took \u201corangutan\u201d and put it into my own list of words, my own sentence. That comes from me and her. We collaborated on that one (laughing).<\/p>\n

A: So why the bathtub?<\/p>\n

N: why Why the bathtub\u2026 that\u2019s a great question. So denzel b a t h t u b started as a five five-minute party piece. We we created for a party called \u201cAunts.\u201d And this was at a loft in Bushwick called \u201cThe Secret Loft.\u201d<\/p>\n

A: I feel like I know that party.<\/p>\n

N: It\u2019s a performance party so there are multiple performances happening in the space in a two-hour span. Which can feel like craziness but can also be like this awesome, euphoric like \u201cwhoa everything is happening all the time.\u201d And you definitely have to make choices as someone who is witnessing all of it. Cason Bolton, who is in the bathtub with me, : we were rehearsing in my bathtub in the bathroom where I was living in East Flatbush, because the acoustics were good. And I was recording it for my own archival purposes, and we had done so many rehearsals sitting inside the bathtub. And we got invited do the \u201cAunts\u201d thing, and I knew that had an actual claw foot bathtub in the space, so I was like \u201chow would you feel about doing this in an actual bathtub?\u201d Everything about denzel b a t h t u b feels watery to me. It feels like there\u2019s some sort of underwater like\u2026 nature to the language, to the movement that I ended up creating out of the party piece. It\u2019s interesting to me to use a bathtub because that felt transparent about the process, and that to me feels really true to the denzel process. I don\u2019t know, I prefer to be transparent about these things. We got so comfortable rehearsing it in a bathtub that it felt like second nature to actually do it in a bathtub.<\/p>\n

We had a performance at BAX where we used a baby bathtub, where we just put our feet in because that\u2019s all we could fit in it. At the Dancespace Project show, we had a half bathtub that my friend, Nico, built. There\u2019s also this tension, because we\u2019re throwing shade at each other, with each other, in this very confined space. I enjoyed just having that aesthetic tension. Like, you\u2019re trapped inside of that tub and you\u2019re saying \u201cI\u2019m a ruin you cunt\u201d into this person\u2019s ear repeatedly and very aggressively (laughing). So I haven\u2019t quite dissolved what that has meant to me, but I think that goes without saying that it speaks to the confinement of being who we are, you know what I mean? But still having to work it out and being resilient to it.<\/p>\n

A: I guess there\u2019s also that whole baptism iconography going on.<\/p>\n

N: Interesting!<\/p>\n

A: That\u2019s what I thought when I saw the bathtub I was like \u201cbaptism!\u201d<\/p>\n

N: (laughing) that\u2019s That\u2019s very interesting. I hadn\u2019t thought of that.<\/p>\n

A: It\u2019s always interesting to take to an artist what you think they\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah I hadn\u2019t heard that.<\/p>\n

A: Yeah and they\u2019re like \u201cI didn\u2019t think about that!\u201d Um\u2026so music is obviously very important to the performances. How does pop music and classical music figure into it? Like I know \u201cI\u2019m a ruin you cunt\u201d is from Azealia Banks and you use her in two of the incarnations. What do you feel is the significance of music?<\/p>\n

N: It\u2019s funny: I got asked to describe denzel in a few words to a curator, because she was just trying to get like a blip of it. And it came down to \u201cDenzel the Musical.\u201d Because there\u2019s a monologue, and then there\u2019s a dialogue, and there\u2019s singing and dancing. To me, and in my history and in my bodily history, music is extremely important and generative. I feel like my approach with my music in my work is a social comment using pop music, because I do believe Bach is pop. Everyone can recognize Bach, most people can at this point. It feels like, not separate. Using Bach, and then using Azealia Banks in b a t h t u b, feels like opposite ends of the same spectrum, for lack of a better term. I am voguing while Bach is playing. I\u2019m doing a loose voguing structure and in that piece I\u2019m playing with failure. I\u2019m failing at voguing, or failing at being erect. I\u2019m constantly or never really steady. And when I am its very much noticing the audience gaze as a performer, just siting there and watching people watch me is a part of that solo, is a part of that movement. And that\u2019s the only moment where I become still, because it\u2019s sort of a reckoning with being watched. And it\u2019s also a message from me to the audience, like this is for me, this is not for you. This is mine, and I made it. This is my body.<\/p>\n

\"Niv<\/a><\/p>\n

A: It\u2019s interesting that you say that, because I had a question about your work being Metameta. Oh god I worded it so much better [before], let me find it\u2026 Ok, so your performances are often Meta meta and pretty self-aware. How is breaking the fourth wall important to the message of your art?<\/p>\n

N: I think that for me as an artist, a young artist, in this time, dealing with the ideas that I\u2019m dealing with, which are huge questions of race, and blackness, and gender, and genderqueer identity, and queerness, and class, and sexism-, whatever it is, all the things, – I would like to always feel, as an audience member when I see work, to feel accountable for what I\u2019m projecting onto the performance. And why is it that I think this [is] about whatever it is, or why is it that I think these things, and ask myself those questions. And so, as someone who\u2019s creating work, [I\u2019m] kind of demanding that of my audience. I\u2019m not trying to put anyone through it as some sort of joke., this This is not a joke. This is my life., this This is our life. You\u2019ve paid to come sit down and watch me do this thing. I need it to feel safe, so to me breaking the fourth wall is extremely important because we\u2019re all in this together. The audience is just as equally important to the work as the work itself.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something that you know, purely because of evolution, is important, too for a lot of other artists in my generation. Sort of breaking that barrier;, feeling like you are behind a glass case is so oppressive. I think the intentionality behind it, where you\u2019re commenting [on] the fourth wall, that I kind of swing between with denzel. I try not to always bee challenging and confrontational with my audience as a performer, but I think that my gazgaze [ing] out to people when I\u2019m performing is how I make myself feel comfortable, but also I\u2019m like\u2026guys, I see you. You\u2019re there, . we\u2019re We\u2019re here together.<\/p>\n

A: Your gaze is challenging. But there\u2019s also maybe something comedic about what you\u2019re doing. I wanted to ask you: how important is comedy, and making people laugh. ?<\/p>\n

N: Hm, interesting.<\/p>\n

A: \u2026Because when you\u2019re throwing shade its very funny. And I don\u2019t know\u2026I guess I just wanted to hear your thoughts about that.<\/p>\n

N: I think that most people laugh out of discomfort.<\/p>\n

A: That\u2019s a good point.<\/p>\n

N: Most people laugh out of discomfort. When its kind of unknown or unfamiliar, people are like \u201cah heh heh\u201d (imitating nervous laughter). You know? The quiver laugh. Because its unfamiliar or they want to get it\u2026they think because of the way its being delivered this must be comedic this must be something that\u2019s humorous, so lets all laugh now. But also it\u2019s kind of sad. It\u2019s deeply sullen.<\/p>\n

A: Oh yeah its definitely not \u201cha ha\u201d funny.<\/p>\n

N: No it\u2019s not at all.<\/p>\n

A: It\u2019s uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah it\u2019s uncomfortable. People laugh out of that. I don\u2019t actually intentionally work with humor in my work. I think people laugh out of discomfort. The video of the performance at BAX is kind of an intense thing. When I performed it and finished it, I felt so wrong. It was one of the better performances of that piece but as the main performer in the work, and having essentially splayed out all of these feelings in the work, I felt like of course it was poetic, but that\u2019s my own version of performative writing. To have people laugh at the moments that they did was kind of like\u2026oh my god. Why was that funny? Is it funny because I have a big booty? Is it funny because I\u2019m looking at you in a way that feels uncomfortable and so that must be trying to make you laugh? What\u2019s so funny about being on rhythm? You know what I mean? To me, the joke is between Cason and I. the The joke is not anybody else\u2019s. It\u2019s a very intimate feeling, being involved in that banter that he and I are engaged with. And that piece is very intimate, . Wwe created that together, alone, . we We trust each other., we We love each other, [and] that can never exist outside that relationship. Having people laugh in those moments was you know, like sometimes satisfying because there were moments where I was like, \u201cOok you can laugh now,.\u201d But but other moments I was like, \u201cok Ok just think about it. Instead of laughing, just think about why that\u2019s funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Niv<\/a><\/p>\n

A: I know that feeling. That\u2019s what happens whenever you make work that\u2019s uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah it\u2019s interesting when it\u2019s been such a private process and you present it to people and there\u2019s a moment you didn\u2019t was funny.<\/p>\n

A: But you do a very good job of keeping focus. But I was wondering like, \u201cpeople People are laughing. I feel like I should ask about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

N: It\u2019s a really good question.<\/p>\n

A: So when you did denzel again, the piece with your mother, I was almost crying because it really touched me. It was a visceral reaction because I only watched it once. I\u2019d have to watch it again to absorb everything. But there was this sweetness that you have between each other. I felt like\u2026 \u201cok Ok I know what he\u2019s talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

N: That\u2019s cool!<\/p>\n

A: Yeah I felt like really like\u2026 \u201cthis This is some heavy shit.\u201d (both laughing) What do you feel is the significance of collaboration in your work?<\/p>\n

N: Oh this is a good one. Collaboration is such a tricky term because I think that in essence, how I think about collaboration is [as] something that is equal parts everybody\u2019s to own. I don\u2019t feel like I work collaboratively. I\u2019m extremely decisive about my work.<\/p>\n

A: Yeah it almost feels like you\u2019re using actors.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah, which is interesting, its funny to put my mom in a work where I\u2019m being so much the director. That was a fun rehearsal process (laughing).<\/p>\n

A: Your mom is so cute by the way.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah she\u2019s going to be in the next piece at NYLA (New York Live Arts). So I don\u2019t [usually] identify my work as deep collaborations- except there are moments. Like the text that Kayson and I developed- that was Kayson and I, that was the only part in the piece where it was somewhat of a collaboration. I still take ownership over the prompt, I still take ownership of the aesthetic. It\u2019s very much that my feet and hands are in everything. So very much how it is presented is mine. And I have no shame about that because I feel like the people I\u2019m bringing in are a part of my identity. They fall in line with who I am and how I present myself in my work, and how I talk about my work. That\u2019s not to say they don\u2019t have their own identities, and how they perform is completely theirs, and that is awesome. I prefer that variable. That\u2019s why I work with an improvisational structure.<\/p>\n

I recently did a collaboration with somebody. \u201cCollaboration\u201d in air quotes. I recently choreographed this project from somebody that was a video project. And it wasn\u2019t mine\u2026 . I wouldn\u2019t tell anybody to go see it. I wouldn\u2019t tell anybody to go see it and say[saying], \u201ctThis is mine.\u201d It has nothing to do with how I work, . Iit\u2019s very much aesthetically not mine. I chipped in. I chipped into the pot. And I get credit for that you know, I got paid. It isn\u2019t mine to say that it is mine. But it\u2019s cool that we get the opportunities we get with this work. We get to maybe go show it in a museum in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

A: That\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

N: Yeah. That\u2019ll be the first time, which is hilarious, the first time my work is traveling. But is it my work? Collaboration is tricky because I think that its possible to have a collaboration but really I don\u2019t know that I am capable, particularly within the denzel series, capable of collaborating with such a deep way where I can comfortably give someone else ownership of a part of the work. You know what I mean?<\/p>\n

A: Yeah, that makes sense.<\/p>\n

N: \u2026Which might seem shitty to some people, but I mean\u2026<\/p>\n

A: No, I totally get it.<\/p>\n

N: I\u2019m definitely reckoning with a lot of control issues. But I can also gladly say that it is all mine. When it gets down to labeling it, like: \u201cnNo, that was my idea. I wrote that. I sang that. I made the costumes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A: So, kind of going back to the dancing aspect, there was one more question I wanted to ask. To play with gender, do you purposefully use feminine movements versus masculine movements? Or are you trying to keep it more universal?<\/p>\n

N: As far as gender and movement, that\u2019s always a big ass question because, what is masculine and what is feminine? I don\u2019t k know that it\u2019s that black and white ever for myself or with my body. I don\u2019t identify as a bro, and if that\u2019s what masculine is then I don\u2019t identify that way. But I know I\u2019m masculine because people project that onto me. I have short hair, I have a deep voice, and I wear men\u2019s clothing, gender- assigned men\u2019s clothing. I think that movement is so much more fluid than that. I don\u2019t think you can gender movement. I don\u2019t think you can gender how people posture and hold themselves. I think it\u2019s really violent to have that expectation on people\u2019s bodies, especially in dance when you use your body as a medium. I guess I\u2019m a pretty a effeminate man and I\u2019m really proud of that. Yes, I was socialized as female and that feels like a part of me. I can\u2019t just up and be like \u201cnah I\u2019m gonna hunch my shoulders all the time and be MEAN and grow a mustache\u201d (laughing). I\u2019m not interested in that. I have done so much work to get the point of identifying as transgender, that I don\u2019t want to work any harder to be who I am.<\/p>\n

\n

A: And knowing, \u201cjJust because I\u2019m trans doesn\u2019t mean I have to be a macho stereotype.\u201d Like, it\u2019s valid for cis men to be effeminate, so why not a trans man?<\/p>\n

N: Yeah, this is what I mean. For a while I \u00a0was identifying as a gay man. Specifically a gay man because at that time I\u2019d wrapped my head around the idea that that was the only way to be effeminate and identify and as male. And no, I can comfortablye identify as a queer man and that feels like just enough. Cause words are words, words are so limiting. If we need to use words, that\u2019s what I would describe myself as. But yeah, there\u2019s no need to make me not do a split because I\u2019m a man. Whatever it is, I try to lose myself in that when I\u2019m peroforming and improvising, because there was a time when I was really concerned with that, and angry. I swing between being like a mana-minotoaur, or a wood elf, or a fairy or a queen. That\u2019s what was so interesting about the vogue ball scene was you could sort of like, for those moments, live in any character you want and be versatile. And that feels comfortable to me. I don\u2019t want to be any one thing to anybody or to myself. That\u2019s what makes so much sense for me with that kind of movement, with voguing and the voguing culture. If I had to identify myself in that context I do identify as a Butch Queen and that feels\u2026 awesome.<\/p>\n

A: So my standard last question, : plans for the future? When is your next performance?<\/p>\n

N: Right now I\u2019m in the process of getting my act together, which is means not being the only administrator of my work. Bringing on a couple of people to help with fundraising and managing everything else that I can\u2019t. I can\u2019t do that anymore by myself because the work load has gotten so big. I\u2019m performing in LA at Human Resources in October.<\/p>\n

A: It sounds like you\u2019re really getting your work out there. It\u2019s getting traction.<\/p>\n

N: Yes it is, which feels enormous and I honestly feel so privileged to have access to so many things now. So yeah I have that performance in LA. I\u2019m also performing with someone else, Vanessa Anspaugh, right now and will be performing with her in the winter of next year. So the order is: October, LA;. January I have an APAP at NYLA; and a week and a half later I\u2019ll have my split show there with Tess Dworman.<\/p>\n

So yeah, my show dates at NYLA are January 30th, 31st, and February 1st. Things are still working themselves out but at least three performances [are] coming in the new year.<\/p>\n

Website: www.nivacosta.com<\/a><\/p>\n

APAP conference: http:\/\/www.apapnyc.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] Full name is Venus Xtravaganza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Niv Acosta is a classically trained dancer using that background to examine American black masculinity. Born to a Dominican mother and identifying as a queer trans man, Niv uses his personal and political identity to create performances that utilize personal writing, dance, and pop music. Interviewer: Annie Malamet Photographer: Yasmine Laraqui and Charles Roussel A:\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[97,138,81,57,137,44,139,38,62,78,140],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-1522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-artist","tag-dancer","tag-lgbtq","tag-music-2","tag-niv-acosta","tag-nyc","tag-performance-artist","tag-queer","tag-trans","tag-transsexual","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Niv2.jpg?fit=4104%2C2772","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6QBV8-oy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1533,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions\/1533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}