Legacy Unboxed: Merián Soto on Shaking to Move into the Archive

Choreographers Liz Lerman, Joanna Haigood, Eiko Otake, Merián Soto, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar have come together to reimagine how artists share their life’s work. During a May 2025 residency at Jacob's Pillow, these five pioneering women gathered to dance, dream, laugh, cry, plan, and question everything we believe about an artist's legacy. They are each working to make their artistic knowledge, methods, and philosophies available and accessible to future generations in their own unique way. Here, Merián shares her thoughts about the importance of archival work at a time where there is an institutional erasure of women and disempowered people. She shares her practice of thirty minutes of shaking—a way to move instantly into the archives of our bodies. Legacy Unboxed™ is supported by funding from the Mellon Foundation. Additional support has been provided by Jacob’s Pillow as a lead partner and fiscal sponsor. Video by Andrea Patiño Contreras of Rabbit Raccoon.