“The choreography of patriarchy, this unholy fusion of love, loss, and violence, spares no one…

I want to change the dance.”

            -Terrence Real, How Can I Get Through to You?

Patriarchal values are at the core of gendered violence and oppression. Patriarchal values of dominance are destructive to all people (regardless of gender identity), as they actively subordinate qualities that represent the “feminine” while valuing the “masculine”.

Synchronized swimming is a microcosm of patriarchal gender ideals. It is a world built on specific rules. These unwritten rules are apparent to those within the sport, and project a controlled, feminine image. Through a series of Subversive Synchro videos, I aim to challenge these ideals, expressing discontent with patriarchal gender binaries.

Each of these videos challenge certain “rules” of synchronized swimming, while bouncing between isolation and connection. These rules address presentation to the audience, correct lines, clean choreography, effortless swimming, and ideal bodies. To break these rules, the movement choreography is sometimes soft, sometimes severe, and rejects the traditional audience. The installation addresses a critical juxtaposition found by those involved in this niche sport. The videos are beautiful but contain raw movements that don’t have a place in competitive sport. They embrace the sense of “sisterhood” that myself and others have found in this sport community. However, they address the ways competitive synchronized swimming imposes patriarchal ideals upon young people. This is something I personally struggle with and wish to challenge through the creation of a new opportunity for movement. This opportunity involves a space that can embrace beauty and sisterhood of water-based choreography in a more expressive, critical, feminist way.