For those who haven’t met you, can you introduce yourself to the community?
My name is Rosa "Rosie" Torres. I am native of the South Texas borderlands, a place known as The Gateway City and raised at the intersection of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, in the states of Texas and Tamaulipas, Mexico. I started dance training at five years of age and have evolved from student, to performer, to choreographer, to dance teacher, to performing artist and dance adjudicator in the past 42 years of my dance life. My affiliations are mostly through work, including the Society of Native Nations, Friends of Migratory Birds/Save Brackenridge Park Trees, and Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin. I associate with these groups and support their work for environmental justice, preservation of cultural practices, rituals, ceremonies, songs, dance, foods, and the arts.
You and another woman were dancing an interpretation of the Supreme Court dissenting opinion on the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Where did you draw inspiration for your movements and this idea?
Yes, Violeta DeLeon Davila answered my call for the Movement Action at the march and rally. She is a phenomenal teacher, choreographer, and mover here in San Antonio. The inspiration to “Move, Respond, and React” to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent opinion letter was from Virginia Grise, a friend and mentor. Virginia is a playwright and director and winner of the 2010 Yale Drama Series Award and a finalist for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Latino/a Playwrighting Award. While in a platica, I asked if I could use her idea of reading the opinion and add movement. The resulting duet was strong, bold, and exactly what was needed to be translated for the occasion.
How does the right to bodily autonomy tie into your own traditions and beliefs?
Maybe because of dance I had the privilege to learn about my body from a young age. Because of dance, I knew my body was mine to control and that no man or person could invade my body without my consent; I suppose I took that concept as not even the law could invade my body without my consent! These were concepts my grandmothers, aunties, and my own mother were not privy too. They have always been submissive to the law of the land, their husbands, and the church. I can thank my dance teachers for teaching me about bodily autonomy and how to defend it.
