Shaun Leonardo I Can't Breathe - Self Defense Workshop | RESPOND @ Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY

Shaun Leonardo () “I Can't Breathe“ - Self Defense Workshop Sunday, February 22 2015 RESPOND Exhibition at Smack Mellon Gallery, Brooklyn, NY ( ) Video Credits Editor : Oliva Joza Camera: John Carluccio, Steven Valerio, Olivia Joza Producer : John Carluccio CINQUA ( ) Exhibit : I Can't Breathe is a public-participatory workshop and performance that takes the form of a self-defense class. Over the course of a half hour, participants learn a range of self-defense technique – from purely pacifist, self-protective maneuvers (including how one may relieve the pressure of a chokehold) to more overt, defensive strategies. (Participants do not learn offensive strikes or moves.) Participants are then placed and paired off in a staggered arrangement. With certain cues given by the artist, each pair enacts the self-defense techniques just learned, alternating in the role of t