2017
Minor Calls addresses the politics of calls for participation in dance. In dance, and particularly in ballet, calls for dancers' bodies are often highly specific in outlining the desired shape, musculature, height, race and characteristics of dancers bodies. Drawing on calls from Fernandes' own past performance works, Minor Calls queers the language and specificity of the dance call, opening up new space for dancers to self-identify. Using language such as "strong, or otherwise authoritative" Fernandes' Minor Calls are interpretative rather than specific, soliciting participation from any body or identity who encounters them. This queering of language also leaves open the possibility that these calls may be for bodies for other, queerer purposes. Open to the possibility that these may be calls for encounters, or for sexual or romantic partners instead of performance participants, the calls also suggest a parallel between the ways calls in dance relate to the more publicly known calls we make each others bodies in personals or on dating and social media platforms. Asking each reader to "inquire within (themselves)" each poster reiterates the importance of the individual's internal deliberations of selfhood over the external ascription of identity based on characteristics.
Design concept by Brendan Fernandes in collaboration with Joseph Cuillier.