Ternura radical es ser crítico y amoroso, al mismo tiempo
Ternura radical es entender cómo utilizar la fuerza como una caricia
Ternura radical es saber acompañarnos entre amigos y amantes,
a distintas distancias y velocidades
Ternura radical es escribir este texto al mismo tiempo, desde dos continentes lejanos
…desde la misma cama
Escribiendo al acariciar
Ternura radical es saber decir que no
Es cargar el peso de otro cuerpo como si fuera tuyo
…es compartir el sudor con un extraño
Ternura radical es bailar entre cuerpos disidentes en un taller
…estar encimadxs y mantener la sonrisa y la fiesta
Ternura radical es dejarse mirar; dejarse llevar
Ternura radical es no desplomarse frente a nuestras contradicciones
Ternura radical es no permitir que los demonios existenciales se conviertan en cinismos permanentes
Es no ser siempre las mismas, los mismos, les mismes
Es encarnar in lak’ech
…porque tú eres mi otro yo
Y viceversa
Ternura radical es no tenerle miedo al miedo
Ternura radical es vivir el amor efímero
Es inventar otras temporalidades
Ternura radical es abrazar la fragilidad
Es enfrentar la neurosis de lxs demás con creatividad
Ternura radical es encarnar gestos performativos que normalmente rechazarías
Ternura radical es asumir el liderazgo cuando tu comunidad te lo pide, aunque no sepas que hacer, ¡ni cómo hacerlo!
Ternura radical es prestarle tus tripas a los demás
Es ponerte el coño de tu amante como bigote
Es arriesgarse a amar a contra pelo
Ternura radical es creer en la arquitectura de los afectos
Es encontrarnos desde los músculos más cercanos al hueso
Es creer en el efecto político de los movimientos internos
Ternura radical es no insistir en ser el centro de atención
Es tener visión periférica; creer en lo que no es visible
Ternura radical es hacer del temblor un baile y del suspiro un mantra
Es disentir con el máximo respeto
…transitar en espacios que no entiendes
Ternura radical es aceptar lo ambiguo
Es no pensar dándole vueltas a tu ombligo
Es romper con patrones afectivos, sin expectativas claras
Ternura radical es compartir sueños, locura
Sintonizar, no solo empatizar
Es encontrar una galaxia en los ojos de otrx y no dejar de mirar
Es leer el cuerpo del otrx como un palimpsesto
Ternura radical es canalizar energías irresistibles y convertirlas en encarnaciones indominables
Es activar la memoria sensorial
Es reconocer al otro por su olor
Ternura radical es sentir la posibilidad en cada duda
Es dejarse atravesar por lo desconocido
Ternura radical es darle la opción a un narcisista de acoplarse,
o re/pensarse
Ternura radical es acariciar espinas
Ternura radical es convivir con la falta
Es mirar a las cosas a la cara con el cariño de quien las quiere ver
Es sostenerse desde distintos lugares, aunque no todos sean ‘hermosos’
Ternura radical es un concepto apropiable y mutante
Ternura radical es algo
Que no hace falta
Definir
A living manifesto written by Dani D’Emilia and Daniel B. Chávez
Tenderness is to be critical and loving, at the same time
Radical tenderness is to understand how to use strength as a caress
Radical tenderness is to know how to accompany one another, among friends and lovers, at different distances and speeds
Radical tenderness is writing this text at the same time, from two faraway continents
…from the same bed
Writing whilst caressing
Radical tenderness is to know to say “no”
Is to carry the weight of another body as if it were your own
…is to share sweat with a stranger
Radical tenderness is to dance among dissident bodies in a workshop
…to be completely overwhelmed and maintain our smiles and celebrations
Radical tenderness is to allow yourself to be seen; to allow yourself to be taken
Radical tenderness is to not collapse in the face of our contradictions
Radical tenderness is to not allow our existential demons to become permanent cynicism
It is to not always be the same, las mismas, los mismos, les mismes
Is to embody in lak’ech
Because you are my other me
And vice versa
Radical tenderness is to not be afraid of fear
Radical tenderness is to live ephemeral love
Is to invent other temporalities
Radical tenderness is to embrace fragility
Is to confront others’ neurosis with creativity
Radical tenderness is to embody performative gestures that you would normally reject
Radical tenderness is to assume leadership when your community asks it of you, although you may not know what to do, or how to do it!
Radical tenderness is to lend your guts to others
Is to wear your lover’s pussy as a beard
Is to risk loving against the grain
Radical tenderness is to believe in the architecture of affects
Is to find one another from the muscles closest to the bone
Is to believe in the political effect of internal movements
Radical tenderness is to not insist on being the center of attention
Is to have peripheral vision; to believe in what cannot be seen
Radical tenderness is to turn a tremor into a dance and a sigh into a mantra
Is to dissent with maximum respect
…to transit in spaces you do not understand
Radical tenderness is to accept the ambiguous
Is to not initiate all thought by navel gazing
Is to break with affective patterns, without clear expectations
Radical tenderness is to share dreams, wildness
To tune in with, not just empathize with
It is to find a galaxy in the eyes of another and not break the gaze
To read the body of another as a palimpsest
Radical tenderness is to channel irresistible energies and convert them into untaimable embodiments
Is to activate sensorial memory
Is to recognize the other by their scent
Radical tenderness is to feel the possibility in every doubt
Is to allow yourself to be pierced by the unknown
Radical tenderness is to give a narcissist the option of adapting or rethinking their position
Radical tenderness is to embrace thorns
Radical tenderness is to coexist with lack
Is to face things head on by looking at them from the love of wanting to see
Is to sustain ourselves from distinct places though not all of them are ‘beautiful’
Radical tenderness is a concept that is appropriable and ever-changing
Radical tenderness is something
That is not necessary
To define
Dani D’Emilia and Daniel Chavez (currently Daniel B. Coleman) are performance artists, transfeminist activists and educators who met in 2011 and collaborated on several transcontinental performance-pedagogy projects as core members of the collectives La Pocha nostra until 2016 (Dani from 2011, Daniel from 2014) and Proyecto Inmiscuir between 2015-17.
They first encountered the term radical tenderness whilst working as part of La Pocha nostra (LPN). As ex-members of the troupe, with this manifesto they want to honor its origin and its continuous reverberation in projects they were/are engaged with around the globe. This text was created as part of the research Dani was undertaking on radical tenderness within the context of an MA at PEI/MACBA, Barcelona. It was born out of an online poetic jam started in 2015, in which they asked themselves what radical tenderness meant for them, in their lives and work within and outside of LPN. Can tenderness be radical? Can radical be tender?
Dani and Daniel wish to thank all who have been part of this journey with them, particularly the founders of LPN who began using the term in the 90s, the various artists that have worked with the troupe and all who have participated in the multiple performance-pedagogy workshops in which they have been exploring radical tenderness from different perspectives and practices throughout the years.
www.danidemilia.com / www.danielbcoleman.com