Artistic Statement

Qilo Matzen (ze/hir, they/them) dances and improvises, bringing somatic research and site-specific work to the stage, studio, and video. Qilo’s ongoing somatic movement practice provides a highly alive internal landscape and a resonant sense of space. Qilo moves with strength and precision, intelligence and intuitiveness. Hir focused movements are attuned with light, sound, breath, reflection, and gaze.

Early studies with electronic music composers and experimental dancers inform Qilo’s compositions through a desire for new movement. Past projects include community-based movement theater pieces that re-imagine water systems and touring Europe and the Balkans with a collaborative performance about prison abolition. Current work includes a live performance/art installation that investigates family history and troubles the myth of manifest destiny, and queer dance films that skew frame rate to reveal the embodied beauty of intangible digital mediums.

Photo by Finn Oakes