The Threat Is Now: Choreography, Temporality, and the Active Shooter Drill

Abstract:

This article explores how the police state choreographs active shooter drills as "performances of protection," or embodied actions framed around an anticipatory threat. During these scenarios, choreographic imperatives—or movement directives in response to specific cues—become tools for directing bodies through public space to preempt crisis. While these measures protect students, teachers, and administrators, they also reinforce the school-to-prison pipeline, targeting communities deemed dangerous by the police state. The article examines how such measures embody control, surveillance, and time as methods of discipline. It also analyzes what performances of protection reveal about the school-prison pipeline in the United States.