We were invited to perform in the show Exhibition Game, curated by Joe Nanashe. The opening was held on Superbowl Sunday. The event framed the development of the piece, “SQUAD,” which was created through collaborative discussions.

Sports bring up questions about games, about rules, about collaborative action. That interested us.

We were also interested in how football, particularly, presents the eroticization of the male body in battle; and that, for the general public, cheerleaders are a safe substitute for, or masking of, that eroticization.

Together, with two young men and an older woman, we formed our SQUAD. We wore a mashup of football gear and cheerleading accoutrements, and were made up in drag. We were interested in breaching the unnamed conventions of normative sporting events, not the least of which points to an underlying expectation or anticipation of violence.

Throughout the event we improvised synchronized actions, then intermittently lay splayed on the floor on display. Actions included huddles, simple footwork punctuated by “Huh… Huh… Huh…,” loud chants such as “We’re number one!!” which escalated in volume, and quiet chants such as “You’re gonna lose… you’re gonna lose, you’re gonna lose…” spoken to individuals at the event.