Aging and transgression: gender, sexuality, and self-reinvention in the contemporary scene

Abstract

This article presents the results of dance research exploring its intersections with issues of gender, sexuality, and the aging process. The works were developed within the Laboratory of Improvisation and Choreography (LICOR) at the Center for Physical Educa-tion and Sports of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), in connection with the Dance Teaching Degree Program, between 2020 and 2025. The writing is grounded in a post-structuralist perspective on education and art, through a Foucauldian lens, masculinity studies, and insights from social gerontology. The works Plutônico (2020), Homem com G (2021), and Sua Santidade: a Santa Idade (2025) were built from autobiographical records and references to Brazilian artists such as Ney Matogrosso, Madame Satã, and Clovis Bor-nay. The process of creating the scenes was shaped through collaborative processes with visual artists using videos and images. The artistic creations highlighted themes such as religiosity, irony, transgression, aging, and self-reinvention. Bridging LGBTQIAPN+ activism with academic dance production — through an understanding of artivism and a queer ethic — proved to be powerful in the creation and circulation of the works, in the fight against ageism, as well as in collaborative work with visual artists.