INSPIRED BY IDENTITY, STUDENTS CREATE ART TRUE TO THEIR CORE. WRITTEN BY JACKSON MILLER // DESIGNED BY MAREN KRANKING
16 | Winter 2020
PHOTOGRAPHED BY NIKITA AMIR
SOFÍA STUTZ
ART O
ne night in February, Sofía Stutz rapped her song “Canyengue.” The title is a reference to a subgenre of tango popular in Argentina, where she emigrated from at age two. Stutz flaunted her vocal agility as she launched from her track’s relaxed, English opening into a tongue-twisting, rapid-fire Spanish verse. “Canyengue, lo tengo, te quemo Soy chica de hierro Canyengue, lo tengo, te quemo con chispas de mi fuego” Half an hour earlier, Stutz whispered to her twin sister, Carolina, that her nervousness had subsided. She wasn’t lying. The crowd in Willard B72, the location of that night’s open mic, couldn’t contain her fire.
She controlled the space, advancing toward the audience. She discreetly emphasized certain lyrics, revealing a connection to the song that only its writer could have. Her swaying arms and hips demonstrated an affinity for rhythm just as much as her lyrics. Hip movement drives Canyengue, Stutz explained in an introduction to her piece. She likened it to a “female” swagger — credible analysis coming from someone with so much of it. Stutz explained the song sought to defy the view that intelligence and sensuality are mutually exclusive. This reconciliation of seemingly distant concepts isn’t rare in Stutz’s work. Rather than music or theater, she’s studying philosophy, and though