Some of the most violent gestures enacted on the body begin with language.

Sometimes it is taught at home, and sometimes it is taught in the hallways of your school. Sometimes it happens down the street on your walk home. You learn to be complicit. You learn to smile and say thank you between two tongues. Because a rejection in either language weighs just as much.

The process for this performance started with the object of the pink cue cards. I tried to find a way in which they could be used interactively. I remade them on a bigger scale, wrote a script, found a dress at a thrift store, and created a character that chaneled my 2nd grade English teacher in Brazil. She made us repeat the same phrases in English, even though I was already fluent.

My 9th grade English teacher in America would force us to say “thank you” when we were called on to speak. If you forgot to thank her, she would silence you and call on someone else. It became a privilege to express my voice and ideas. I slowly stopped speaking out of fear.