An intensive one-day lecture-and hands on workshop, conceived by Nicolás, that excavates and honors the legacies of creatives from different fields of knowing and being who have unleashed performative acts that have shaken societies to their very foundations. The roster of visionaries includes, among others,  Fefita la Grande, Dominican Republic’s lawless matron of Merengue típico; the late Walter Mercado, Puerto Rico’s outlandish TV mystic; Cambumbo, the daring Dominican who created a transgressive space where queerness found refuge in the ’70s; his fellow countryman and unofficial saint, Papá Liborio, who at the beginning of the nineteenth century formed a spiritual commune that was massacred by U.S. and national hegemonic powers; and Mamá Tingó, a Black activist who advocated for the rights of a rural farmers’ community and who was assassinated as she fought against the unjust plundering of their land. Nothing to Lose alludes to caring so much for one’s calling, that there is nothing that can curtail its course. This experiential class entails generating actions, performances, interventions, movements, and experiences inspired by these figures and serves as platform to also celebrate their rare gifts to many of us. To quote Fefita la Grande “Rather dead than humble.” Àṣẹ!   

Photo: screenshot of online video and depicting Fefita la Grande

Nothing to Lose © 2020 Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo  

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