Bodies in possession and in revolt are often framed as being “caught” by some other entity—a spirit, a force, or a memory. Cases of rebellion involve a loss of intentionality of movement, unlike a subject who wills and decides. What is the political significance of the illegibility of such movements, before they are consigned to taxonomies and diagnoses that render them pathological, criminal, or demonic? What thinking about dance might this permit?

In July 2023, drag artist Pura Luka Vega’s Ama Namin (Our Father) performance in “Jesus drag” went viral across the Philippine archipelago. Many deemed Luka’s performance blasphemous, and they were declared persona non grata and imprisoned twice. This kanalization is a process where Christian fundamentalists, conservative publics, and state officials tag bakla (often conflated with being gay or transfeminine) as kanal (canal or sewer), deserving imprisonment and even death. By queering worship, bakla communities challenge anti-bakla regimes.

Research findings in cognitive and affective neuroscience, along with psychology and anthropology, can be used to explore the theatrical benefits and dangers of church/temple performances. They involve animal-human drives as primary and social emotions, expressed through patriarchal, maternal, memorial, and supportive/trickster networks in the brain’s staging of self and Other consciousness. Thus, “inner/outer theatre” (brain and social) networks are reflected in the apparent spirits and divine figures of earlier cultures, which relate to Christian images and performance ideals.

Thomas Riccio’s analysis of Sophia, the social robot developed by Hanson Robotics, presents her as a liminal figure at the intersection of myth, technology, and identity, embodying both ancient archetypes and emergent posthuman imaginaries. Sophia’s design, evolution, and media presence challenge conventional notions of agency, consciousness, and embodiment and raising questions on the broader ethical, ontological, and social dimensions of human-machine coevolution. As a speculative interface, Sophia redefines subjectivity within the horizon of a technologically mediated future.

Recent books on disability performance offer an opportunity to explore past and present disability performance labor, which has the potential to rupture the ableisms and hegemonies of conventional theatre.