1.    _agonia no jardim_ [“agony in the garden”] marks bonneville’s debut in the world of ceramics—a practice he began after quitting his trajectory in the performing arts. this exhibition sets the beginning of the serial project _animais paisanges e santos_ [“animals landscapes and saints”], which investigates the lives and legacies of different saints, while exploring the intersections between the study of mysticism, the relations between human and non-human animals, and the tensions between civilization and nature.

2.    “love brought forth the world, friendship will bring it forth again.” — hölderlin, _hyperion; or, the hermit in greece_

3.    constantly seeking to enlarge his vocabulary beyond the expected, beyond what he was taught, bonneville seeks not to restrain language, allowing it to create new worlds. for him, obligation and imagination are on opposite sides. he took up ceramics out of sheer interest and curiosity, with no purpose beyond the practice itself. this brought him here, without his planning it. it was easy. it happened. he allowed himself to become available again to the sensible world, to matter—and matter answered. he reopened to the vast realm of the erotic.

4.    in the agony in the garden episode, christ experiences a moment of extreme vulnerability. he knows what awaits him—prison, violence, abandonment—and he asks his friends to stay awake with him. this plea is in truth an appeal to them to be present and comfort him—friendship is presented as companionship in suffering. he doesn’t ask them to save him nor to do anything heroic—he simply asks them to _be there_. even so, they fall asleep. this failure is not a betrayal, but rather a human weakness: it is difficult to truly accompany the suffering of others. it is difficult to simply be there when there are no words, no solutions, no easy promises. 

5.    both realities—friendship in hard times and the discovery of new possibilities not entailing a sacrifice—are part of _agonia no jardim_. in moments when everything becomes unbearable, some stay. not to offer a way out, but to watch, to listen, to witness. then there’s the time when nothing is to be expected anymore. and it is in this very moment that one begins anew. the gesture serves no purpose but its own—the pleasure of doing without asking permission. without planning. without expecting to go back. this exhibition begins from that place: where the end of a path makes way for a different kind of presence—less directed and, perhaps for this very reason, more alive.
____

&nbsp;

For any additional information regarding the pieces, you may contact the artist directly through his email address: office@miguelbonneville.com

&nbsp;

**Acknowledgments**: ó cerâmica, livraria aberta, o lugar do meio, teatro do silêncio, maria teresa oliveira, ricardo costa, sofia dinger.

agonia no jardim©bonneville.jpg

In 2024, the EVC's Foyer became an exhibition space, welcoming proposals on an ongoing basis by visual artists whose work has a connection to the performing arts in general and to dance in particular. After the first edition of a cycle of exhibitions curated by Carlota Lagido, during which we welcomed works by Luís Guerra, João Galante and Elizabete Francisca, we present a new edition with artists Flávio Rodrigues, Miguel Bonneville and Ana Caetano.

#### cérebro, olhos, mãos e papel [“brain, eyes, hands and paper”] — 2nd edition

&nbsp;

_What is this capacity of the body that takes what we observe and puts it on a sheet of paper? I’m talking about the body transmuting itself into a drawing, in an intricate fusion between eyes, hands and paper. It’s like the development of a mental muscle that mysteriously extends down the arm, reaches the hand and travels across the paper. It turns into movement and dynamism. There are people in the world of performing arts who have been drawing even before they started using their bodies as tools. These exhibitions reveal three different ways of using mental muscles, each with its own identity and beauty. Drawing is a physical act that requires time, memory, focus, practice, will, endurance and freedom. It’s like dancing. In this second edition, drawing turns into action with Flávio Rodrigues, into sculpture with Miguel Bonneville, and into movement with Ana Caetano._ ― Carlota Lagido

Exhibitions — 2025

2025

Agonia no jardim — Miguel Bonneville

On the 17th of June, around 6:30pm, we welcome _Confluências_, by Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, an attempt to reconcile three different projects: _Dispositivos_, created for TBA in 2020; _Instalação_ ("Installation"), which occupied part of the CCU — Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in 2023; and the project _Arrumar a Casa_, which started this year at the EVC and in which the artists seek to sort out their 20-year archive. _Confluências_ is a type of performance, installation, and “open” archive where the artists test different ways of presenting their work, while also looking for clues for future research. In this event, visitors can freely move around the Bar and Studio 1 at the EVC building and watch a series of movement and text research pieces, performed by seven artists collaborating with the duo. While wandering around, visitors will find different scenographic objects from the performances, as well as videos, music, and podcasts produced in recent years and rarely shown to the audience. The event will also feature a set of reading, drawing, and writing exercises that are usually part of the duo's workshops, and which were systrmarized under the concept of simultaneity, as well as some “finds” from their archive—photographs, rehearsal videos and other materials—timidly placed in the nooks and crannies of the EVC. 

@Alexandre Azinheira.jpg

At Home is a project designed for dance artists, inviting them to develop their work throughout the year at the EVC. Having welcomed Miguel Moreira, João dos Santos Martins, Jonas & Lander, Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Teresa Silva and Victor Hugo Pontes in previous years, we now invite Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz into the various spaces of the EVC with their installations and performative projects: _Arrumar a casa_ ["Putting the House in Order"], _Da desordem das paixões_ ["On the Disarray of the Passions"], _Labirinto_ ["Labyrinth"], _À distância de um braço_ ["At Arm’s Length"], and _Dueto_ ["Duet"].

_Once “at home”, we will start with some housekeeping—sorting out our archive of nearly 20 years, which urgently needs to be reviewed and organized. MiniDV cassettes, DVDs, CDs, program notes, handouts, posters, notebooks, hard drives, pen drives… materials of all kinds that were scattered around our house and which we are now bringing to the EVC, finally deciding what to preserve and what to discard. But there’s more to this project, **ARRUMAR A CASA**, than housekeeping. Along with the intense work on our archive, we will try to share some bits from our rediscovery of it as we infiltrate the spaces of the EVC in an ever-changing way. Don’t be surprised, then, if throughout the next months you come across some videos, photographs, sounds, or texts in the nooks and crannies of the EVC. Then, on 17th of June, at an event we are calling **CONFLUÊNCIAS** ["Confluences"], we're going to show these archival materials more clearly through an installation in the EVC Bar and share with you, in Estúdio 1, the result of a research laboratory on different performative devices and/or materials from some of our shows and processes._

_As we look back at our past as a duo, we are also turning our gaze to our collective past through **four projects** to be developed over the course of the year. Two of these projects, albeit developed with different collaborators, share a focus on the Baroque, specifically on the connection between dance and music that characterizes this period. The first one, **DA DESORDEM DAS PAIXÕES”, will be co-created with the music group Músicos do Tejo, and will premiere in 2026. **LABIRINTO** ["Labyrinth"], a typical metaphor in the Baroque period, is the title of the second project, with no premiere date yet, but born from a desire to experiment with musicians Helena Raposo (lute) and Ana Castanhito (harp). The two other projects are not focused on the Baroque, yet they aim to further the reflection about the past in connection with museum spaces. The third one, **À DISTÂNCIA DE UM BRAÇO**, has been shelved for at least three years, and we are finally able to resume it through a partnership with Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. With this project, we aim to challenge the settled way of looking at works of art in a museum by creating a performance that seeks to shorten the distance between the “past” that is presented and the spectator’s “present”._

_All these projects will include periods of rehearsal and research at the EVC, and, in some of them, we will open to the public to share materials, reflections, or simply to exchange views on the state of the world._

_Lastly, we will move on to the creation of a **DUETO**. Our last duet for the stage, _O que não acontece_, was created in 2018, and we already miss being alone together in a studio. The duet is the artistic form through which we come together, in which we come closer to who we are, closer to our path in shaping our identity as artists and to our collaboration throughout the last 20 years. It is in this format that we allow ourselves to share with the audience what is most intimate and contradictory about us. So, we will lock ourselves in one of the EVC studios doing what we love most, in order to share it with you afterwards._ — Sofia & Vítor 

Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz is a structure funded by the Portuguese Republic - Culture I DGARTES - Directorate-General for the Arts and Lisbon City Council.

At Home ⏤ Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz

Confluências — Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz

Daily classical and contemporary dance practice designed for professional dancers and those in the process of becoming professional dancers. The diversity of the teachers' proposals is intended to mirror our approach to what a dance practice can be today. The monthly schedule of daily practices is available in the schedule.

###### Classical Dance
Mon - Wed - Fri: 10am – 11:15am

###### Contemporary Dance
Tue - Thu: 10am – 11:15am

###### Price
3€ / class (insurance required)


###### Classical Dance
Mon – Wed – Fri: 10am – 11:15am

###### Contemporary Dance
Tue – Thu: 10am – 11:15am

###### Price
3€ / class (insurance required)


Daily Practice

##### CLASSICAL DANCE
Mon – Wed – Fri: 10am – 11:15am

##### CONTEMPORARY DANCE
Tue – Thu: 10am – 11:15am

##### PRICE
3€ / class (insurance required)

DAILY CLASSES ⏤ March

###### CLASSICAL DANCE
Mon – Wed – Fri: 10am – 11:15am 

###### CONTEMPORARY DANCE
Tue – Thu: 10am – 11:15am 

###### PRICE
3€ / class (insurance required)

DAILY CLASSES ⏤ APRIL

###### CLASSICAL DANCE
Mon – Wed – Fri: 10am – 11:15am

###### CONTEMPORARY DANCE
Tue – Thu: 10am – 11:15am

###### PRICE
3€ / class (insurance required)

DAILY CLASSES ⏤ MAY

Daily Classes ⎯ July

###### CLASSICAL DANCE
##### Mon – Wed – Fri: 10am – 11:15am

###### CONTEMPORARY DANCE
##### Tue – Thu: 10am – 11:15am

###### PRICE
##### 3€ / class (insurance required)

DAILY CLASSES ⏤ JUNE

###### CLASSICAL DANCE
##### Mon – Wed – Fri
##### 10am – 11:15am

###### CONTEMPORARY DANCE
##### Tue – Thu
##### 10am – 11:15am

###### PRICE
3€ / class (insurance required)

Daily Classes ⎯ October

Daily Classes ⎯ November

Daily Classes ⎯ December

###### Classical Dance
Mon – Wed – Fri: 10am – 11:15am

###### Contemporary Dance
Tue – Thu: 10am – 11:15am

###### Price
3€ / class (insurance required)

Daily Classes ⏤ February

Daily Classes ⏤ March

Daily Classes ⏤ April

Daily Classes ⏤ May

DAILY CLASSES ⏤ July

Daily Classes ⏤ September

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to their well-being.

###### Classical Dance
##### Mondays
##### Wednesdays
##### 6:30 pm ─ 8:00 pm

###### Price
10€ / class (insurance required)

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ February

Dance Classes ⏤ Professionals

First Stage is a program dedicated to young, recently graduated artists, with the aim of supporting the creation of their first works. This season, the EVC will support artistic creation at a national level, promoting partnerships with various educational structures linked to the performing arts, namely Escola Superior de Dança (ESD), Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE), Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (FMH), and Forum Dança.

_First Stage_ is a program dedicated to young, recently graduated artists, with the aim of supporting the creation of their first works. This season, the EVC will support artistic creation at a national level, promoting partnerships with various educational structures linked to the performing arts, namely, Escola Superior de Dança (ESD), Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE), Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (FMH) and Fórum Dança.


First Stage 2023

First Stage is a residencies program dedicated exclusively to young artists who have recently graduated from higher education institutions or equivalent. The initiative aims to support and encourage the production of their first works in a professional context. To this end, the EVC promote partnerships with several educational institutions linked to the performing arts, namely Escola Superior de Dança (ESD), Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE), Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (FMH) and Fórum Dança.


First Stage 2024

First Stage is an art residencies program exclusively designed for young artists who have recently graduated from higher education institutions or equivalent. The initiative aims to support and encourage the creation of their first works in a professional context. To this end, the EVC promote partnerships with various education institutions with a connection to the performing arts, namely Escola Superior de Dança (ESD), Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE), Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (FMH), and Forum Dança.

First Stage — 2025

First Stage 2022

Following Miguel Moreira, João dos Santos Martins and Jonas&Lander, this time EVC welcomes Marlene Monteiro Freitas to be EVC’s 2022 season AT HOME artist.

The program provides a continuous workspace, giving each artist the freedom to use the various facilities of the Estúdios for artistic creation projects and any other initiatives they develop.

###### Marlene Monteiro Freitas 
She was born in São Vicente, Cabo Verde, where she was co-founder of the dance group Compass. She studied at P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels), at E.S.D. and at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon). She worked with Emmanuelle Huynn, Loic Touzé, Tânia Carvalho, Boris Charmatz, among others. She created the works _ÔSS_ (2022), _Ri te / Paris Intermission_, in collaboration with Israel Galván (2022), _Bacchae - Prelude to a purge_ (2017), _Jaguar_, in collaboration with Andreas Merk (2015), _Of ivory and flesh - statues also suffer_ (2014); _Paradise - private collection_ (2012-13); _(M)imosa_ (2011), a project developed with Trajal Harell, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea; _Guintche _(2010); _A Seriedade do Animal_ (2009-10); _A Improbabilidade da Certeza_ (2006);_ Larvar_ (2006); and _Primeira Impressão_ (2005). The common denominator of these works is openness, impurity and intensity. In 2017, the Portuguese Society of Authors (SPA) awarded _Jaguar_ the prize for best choreography. In the same year, the artist was honored by the Government of Cape Verde for her cultural achievements. In 2018, the Venice Biennale awarded Marlene Monteiro Freitas the Silver Lion in the Dance category, and, in 2021, the artist was awarded the Chanel Next Prize in its first edition. In 2022, as part of the Portugal-France Crossed Season, the Festival d'Automne à Paris dedicates a cycle to the artist's work, presenting a vast retrospective and two new creations. She is co-founder of P.OR.K, a production structure based in Lisbon, and has an ongoing collaboration with O Espaço do Tempo (PT).



Celebrating 20 years since he began his artistic path, Victor Hugo Pontes is the artist invited to be _At Home_ in 2023. It will be a year of commemoration in which EVC will be the choreographer's temporary home. Here, new works of his will be conceived, and encounters with various formats will be held, through various ways of approaching and promoting a meaningful reflection about his path. 

###### Exhibition ⎯ _For a happiness like this_
Victor Hugo Pontes,  20 years of artistic creation through images

###### Performance lecture ⎯ _Unique physical parts_

###### Book edition ⎯ _For a happiness like this_ 
Victor Hugo Pontes, 20 years of artistic creation
(provisional title)




At Home ⏤ Victor Hugo Pontes

##### _At Home_ is a space dedicated to dance artists who, throughout the year, are invited to develop their projects at the EVC and make them their creative home. After having been introduced to the work of Miguel Moreira, João dos Santos Martins, Jonas & Lander, Marlene Monteiro Freitas and Victor Hugo Pontes in previous years, in 2024 we welcome Teresa Silva, who will show us her work in all its facets and different formats.

##### Over the course of a year, various projects by her or in collaboration with others will be developed at the EVC.

##### Teresa Silva (Lisbon, 1988) has dedicated herself to research, creation and performing in the fields of contemporary dance and performance since 2008. She sees dance as something that goes beyond the physical body, resulting in a work of attentiveness and sensitivity, as well as a multidisciplinary approach to movement.

##### The artist will bring to the EVC a series of very different proposals, in collaboration with Sara Anjo, David Marques, Kristina Norman, and Mathieu Bouvier, among others.

###### Oráculo expandido [“Expanded oracle”] — towards an investigation into practices of care, attention and connection

Since 2017, Sara Anjo and Teresa Silva have been researching the potential of the body as a place of knowledge and revelation, and have designed workshops and created a piece based on the premise “can the body be an oracle?” There is a great diversity of people who share a curiosity for practices aimed at a holistic awareness of the body, and _Oráculo expandido_ is an invitation to continue this research, opening it up to other people and expanding the research to other languages, practices and perspectives. 

» 23 Nov, 4pm - 7pm, EVC

###### Fazer falar o fazer [“Making the making speak”] — devices for creating speech about artistic practices

This project, conceived and developed by David Marques and Teresa Silva, arises from the desire to make the work of their generation more visible and to bring the community together around the issues that move and engage them in their artistic practices. In this sense, the artists will develop different devices that encourage thinking, speaking and listening, and which provide encounters between artists and between the artists and the audience. In this _Making the making speak_'s edition, Teresa and David invite Ana Rita Teodoro, Andresa Soares and Francisco Rolo to an openly exchange.

» 30 Nov, 2:30pm - 8pm, EVC

###### Carnation

After collaborating on _Orchidelirium — An appetite for Abundance_, a project presented at the 2022 Venice Biennale, Estonian visual artist Kristina Norman has partnered with Teresa Silva to conceive a new piece. This time, the artists use the red carnation as a symbol of power and freedom, seeking to bring into dialogue the culture and history of their respective countries.

###### Ah! — Experimentation sessions for a transformative artistic practice

In this project driven by Teresa Silva, the artist aims to show how artistic practice generates states of attention, self-knowledge and transformation that intensify human potentialities. In these individual sessions, each person will be invited to listen to what affects them in the present moment and therefrom work together on a sensitive and experimental path, through exercises, tasks and actions. To prepare the sessions, Teresa Silva draws on her research with Sara Anjo around the question "can the body be an oracle?" and finds inspiration in the work of artists such as Anna Halprin, Lygia Clark (Relational Objects), Alejandro Jodorowsky (Psychomagic) and Valentina Desideri (Fake Art Therapy), who have made and continue to make their artistic practice a place of affection, ritual and healing.

In these sessions, which will be individual, each person will be invited to listen to what affects them in the present moment and, from there, work together on a sensitive and experimental path, through exercises, tasks and actions.

» 10 - 20 Dez, 45 minutes individual sessions, 11am - 7pm, EVC

» Registration | By completing this form: [https://forms.gle/UPdi27jWqwR45hZD6](link)


At Home ⏤ Teresa Silva

At Home ⏤ Marlene Monteiro Freitas

_Itineraries_ is a program that encourages artistic creation, aimed at Mozambican creators in the field of dance, in a partnership between OPART E.P.E. | Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, through the Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo. 
Intending to create a network that links Mozambique, Portugal, and other partners in Europe, the project develops initiatives that connect the associated countries to promote the internationalization of artists. 
 
 ⏤

>"As a facilitator of this program, which is so important for the materialization (and creation) of perspectives about the need for collaboration between artists and cultural institutions in Portugal and artists from countries once colonized by Portugal, I wish we could, together, look at this project with curiosity and a sense of responsibility. So that the network can grow and expand, and these itineraries have as many meanings as there are individual and collective stories."  
> 
> David Marques


The incentive program for artistic creation _Itineraries_, aimed at Mozambican dance artists, will be held for the 3rd consecutive year. This is a partnership between Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões - Institute for Cooperation and Language, through the Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo. 

The project aims to create a network between Mozambique, Portugal and other partners in Europe, developing initiatives that relate the various territories to each other, in order to promote internationalization in artistic creation. 

⎯ 

>_As a facilitator of this program - so important for the materialization (and creation) of a reflection on the need for collaboration between artists and cultural institutions in Portugal and artists from countries once colonized by Portugal - I wish that we could, together, welcome this project with curiosity and a sense of responsibility. For the network to grow and expand, and for these itineraries to have as many meanings as there are individual and collective stories._
>
##### David Marques


Itineraries 2023

Itineraries 2022

The conference _Meetings for the Future IV_ brings to the centre of the reflexion the transition of careers in the performing arts. 
With an analytical look at the pilot experience developed in the EVC over a period of three months and the current situation in Europe and Portugal, future possibilities concerning the career transition of performing arts professionals are envisaged. 
More than finding answers in the present, the aim is to produce a tangible and clear reading of the current situation that allows us, collectively, to glimpse ways to act in the future. It is, therefore, with our gaze directed towards the future that we intend to propose this reflection and, above all, to stimulate a dialogue committed to the effective implementation of practices in the field of career management and transition - projecting into the future a permanent mechanism that will have the capacity to leverage and facilitate this process. 

###### Target Audience
Performing arts professionals

###### Free access

###### Accessibility
Simultaneous Translation and Portuguese Sign Language (LGP)

The conference "Meetings for the Future IV" brings to the centre of the reflexion the transition of careers in the performing arts. 
With an analytical look at the pilot experience developed in the EVC over a period of three months and the current situation in Europe and Portugal, future possibilities concerning the career transition of performing arts professionals are envisaged. 

###### with
Pia Krämer, curator
Jorge Ramos do Ó, State of the Art and Conclusions
Sónia Baptista, moderator

###### Institutional partners
DGArtes and Fundação GDA 

###### Free access

Careers Transition in Performing Arts

**Contemporary dance(s) - diaspora and Afro-descendants in the Portuguese artistic context**

On this day dedicated to dialogue at EVC, we will hear from African and African descent whom we have invited to share with us their experiences and reflections on their artistic, research and pedagogical practices, as well as on the presence of black people and narratives from the African diaspora in the context of contemporary dance in Portugal. Here, 'contemporary dance' is understood as a concept that encompasses dances of contemporaneity, such as street dances, clubbing and social dances, whose presence in cultural institutions and academic contexts is a subject for debate.

Thus, we intend to raise questions around the documentation, transmission, dissemination and support of these contemporary dances, and to do so with the people who practice them - and through their narratives - in spaces of visibility. 

What dances from the African diaspora remain in Portugal, and how are they being transformed? What relationships are possible between street dances, social dances and academic dances in an institutional system of artistic education and production? 

What role can dance play in a broader reflection on Portugal's relationship with the countries it colonized?

###### Guests and program [HERE](https://estudiosvictorcordon.pt/en/events/contemporary-dance-s-diaspora-and-afro-descendants-in-the-portuguese-artistic-context-1)

###### Public in general, but specially directed to arts professionals

###### Free access

###### Portuguese sign language translation

Conference Meetings for the Future V

A series of meetings focusing on the reality of migrant communities living in Portugal and the role of culture in their path to become fully integrated into society. This year, the program will unfold over three weeks, in the form of three talks that will help bring to light different realities present in our society, but not properly acknowledged. 

###### Pari passu
##### _“On the flying carpet, facing Mecca,_
##### _I have but one certainty: my I is You”_ — Muhammad Rashid

At the invitation of Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro Praga proposes the series of meetings “Pari passu”, dedicated to the acknowledgement of migrant artists and various aspects of their cultures, which, although present in the public sphere, are still made invisible by multiple social factors. In this first series, dedicated to Islam, “Pari passu” will offer a talk and a lecture on each of three Saturdays in November, with the presence of guests with knowledge of Islam. The TALKS will deal with the relationship between Islamic art and tradition, the presence of Islamic art in the Portuguese public sphere, and contemporary Islamic art. The three LECTURES will be an attempt to bring us closer to Islamic art and culture in three ways: religion and culture; the historical presence of Islam in Portugal; and the Quran. On the afternoons, you will also be able to watch or take part in RECREATIONAL PRACTICE moments of dancing and music, while enjoying – _pari passu_ – food, books and much more at the LITTLE MARKET.

What good is it to know the past without acknowledging the present, thus compromising possibilities for the future? In recent years we have witnessed, both in politics and in dance, the celebration of a historical systematization without critical positioning and filtered by a hierarchy of values that often prevents the acknowledgement of the diverse and vague contemporaneity.

Cultures evolve with migrant communities and various forms of knowledge. Who was Herculano Mercês? Who sewed Almada’s clothes? These questions are just as important as: When was the last time you saw someone dancing an Iranian dance? Wasn't it yesterday, right next to your house? How many steps took someone who couldn't take steps?                                                                                

“Pari passu” is a space for the acknowledgement of Islam today, weakening the mythification of the past and looking particularity in the eye.

###### Dates
##### 2nd, 9th, 16th November, from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
##### 2:30 pm — Lecture (1h)
##### 4 pm — Practice (40min)
##### 5 pm — Talk (1h + Q&A)

Meetings for the Future VI

The previous editions of Meetings for the Future have explored various themes and formats. In this edition, keeping in mind the key idea of transmission, the necessity arises of revisiting places, events, and characters that make up our historical narratives, seeing them in the light of the present. Between fact and expectation, we embark on a performative conference on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Luís de Camões by Joana Craveiro, featuring dancers from countries on this well-known argonaut’s route.

#### _que bem posso escusar trazer escrito em papel o que na alma andar devia_
[“I may well forgo carrying on paper what within my soul should dwell”]

**created and authored by** Joana Craveiro

In this performative conference, Joana Craveiro and the multidisciplinary team from Teatro do Vestido set out to confront the life and work of Luís de Camões, troubadour and argonaut, the great Portuguese poet whose work will be revisited and read anew from a 21st-century perspective. The feats he describes, the adjectives he chooses to describe the encounter (or rather, the confrontation?) of cultures, his view of empires, the politics and ideology hidden or revealed in his words, his lyric poems, and love as sung by the Poet, are the threads from which this work of creative reflection will be woven. Also drawing on the ideas of travel and diaspora, this performative conference will feature dancers from the African and the Asian continents, seeking to trace signs of these cultures in their bodies and movements, and critically deconstructing Luís de Camões’ work in its relation to these bodies in space. This performative conference brings his work into dialogue with Edward Said’s thought as articulated in his book _Orientalism: Western Concepts of the Orient_, as well as with the thought of John Berger, Arundhati Roy, Sanjay Seth, among others, aiming for a poetic-political approach to his imaginary and literary universe.

This program’s edition is part of the commemorations of Luís de Camões’ 500th anniversary.

Meetings for the Future VII 

Conference ⏤ Meetings for the Future IV

An intensive week targeting dance professionals, with workshops led by the João Cardoso and Edivaldo Ernesto. 
 
###### Target Audience
Dance professionals


A one-week program dedicated to dance practice for professionals that proposes an intensive training in the restart of activities after the summer season. 

This year we will welcome the prestigious Belgian company Peeping Tom, founded by Gabriela Carrizo (Argentina) and Franck Chartier (France).

Brandon Lagaert joined Peeping Tom in 2013 for the creation of _Vader_, and has also created _Moeder_, _Kind_, _Dido & Aeneas_ and _La Visita_. It is at the company that he has crafted his signature style as a multidisciplinary performer.

In his work, Brandon combines elements from different disciplines, such as urban and contemporary dance, theatre, and film. As a director, he often starts from the perspective of a performer to lay down a certain foundation, before tackling the overall structure. He does this under the name of his company KAIHO of which the award-winning performances Subdued and Mondo Fuso have been an integral part.


###### Target Audience
Dance professionals

###### Price
220€

###### GDA Scholarships
GDA Cooperators ⎯ 70€ (amount to be paid by the cooperator) 
> Non GDA Cooperators ⎯ 130€ (amount to be paid by the non cooperator)

> _(GDA Grants are assigned in order of registration confirmation)_

###### Limit of 20 participants

###### Personal accident insurance is required

KICK OFF'23 

One-week program for dance professionals proposing intensive dance training at the "rentrée" right after summer holidays, this year diving into the artistic universe of Akram Khan.

###### Target Audience
Dance professionals

###### Price
220€

###### This program has the support of GDA Foundation

###### Online registration

###### Personal accident insurance is required








KICK OFF'24

With the aim of promoting complementary training for professional dancers or those in the process of becoming professional dancers, focusing on technical development, dance language diversity, and knowledge exchange, we established the EVC Training Program and the Kick-Off Program with the support of GDA. The three invited instructors for this year’s editions have established their own language and methodology over the past few years, and they are unanimously recognized by their peers.

### Kick Off ’25

_Falling Into Movement in Connection_, with João Cardoso

In recent years, both as a dancer/performer and as a teacher, João Cardoso has shown a growing interest in contact improvisation techniques and in their application to both horizontal floorwork and vertical movement in contemporary dance classes. Connection with music plays a crucial role in this class model, for it serves as a vehicle for practicing a playful body, one that enjoys moving energetically. Practice itself begins with shared or individual moments of “resetting the body”, whether through breathing exercises, by exploring fatigue, or by improvising from points of contact. On the one hand, practice evolves into movement research patterns, focusing on touch as a tool to awaken forgotten parts of the body. On the other hand, it engages in floorwork techniques, fostering awareness of transitions between horizontal and vertical settings and challenging the concept of a “collective mind”. Sprinkled with a touch of expressive drama, this practice invites the development of bodies and minds that are capable, gentle, humble, curious, aware, and intimately connected to the sheer pleasure of dancing and moving.

_Práticas Anímicas_ [“Soul Practices”], with Pedro Ramos

These movement practices assemble a series of techniques linked to the body, both inside and outside an artistic context, and which combine choreographic experiences, yogic and somatic techniques, alchemical studies, and tuning strategies. Experiences in which the body, as a psycho-physical unity, is engaged and is brought to the foreground in a dialogue with space, breathing, and its own inner dimension. The body as a “piece of nature” to be rediscovered as its movement becomes conscious. Through the shaping of presence is thus explored a set of perceptual tasks which lead to movement and sound, and which might result in other forms of expression: words, visual writing, or sound writing.

Kick Off ’25

KICK OFF’22 

Intensive training week for dance professionals, with Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus.  

###### Target Audience
Dance professionals



EVC Training

Intensive and complementary KOVA training for dance professionals. KOVA is the language, practice and composition tool developed by the choreographer Marcos Morau, in which the focus of the movement is not so much the contact with emotions and feelings but a deep connection with the body and the search for shapes and volumes. 

Marcos Morau created in 2005 the company La Veronal, a collective of artists from dance, cinema, literature, and photography. His training and the tools he uses to develop his work are not limited to dance, extending to artistic disciplines such as photography and theater. 


###### Target Audience
Dance professionals

###### Price ⎯ 200€

###### GDA scholarships available

###### Limit of 30 participants

###### Online registration

EVC Training 2023

With the aim of promoting complementary training for professional dancers or those in the process of becoming professional dancers, focusing on technical development, dance language diversity, and knowledge exchange, we established the EVC Training Program and the Kick-Off Program with the support of GDA. The three invited instructors for this year’s editions have established their own language and methodology over the past few years, and they are unanimously recognized by their peers.
### EVC Training
A complementary intensive training program for dance artists that gives them the opportunity to get acquainted with the fundamental languages of contemporary dance worldwide.

#### Movement Practice with Tiago Martins

The fundamental basis of Movement practice is the contrasting exposure of the body to unknown situations, situations of chaos and complexity, which can transform both the moment and the structure. In this confrontation, one learns to deal with the interconnectedness of seeing and doing, doing and feeling, feeling and being through paradigms, questions, and puzzles, while creating situations that foster mobility, organic strength, balance, coordination, and locomotion. As a whole, the practice of Movement empowers and enables the global development of a body that moves with increasing awareness and, above all, with greater humanity.

EVC Training — 2025

Complementary intensive training for professional dancers that gives them the opportunity to explore the fundamental languages of contemporary dance, this year focusing on the artistic language of Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite.

###### Target Audience
Dance professionals

###### Price ⎯ 200€

###### GDA grants available

###### Online registration




EVC Training 2024

EVC Training 2022

The 2nd edition of _A Collection for Tomorrow_, curated by Cristina Peres and directed by João Afonso Vaz, dedicates 10 conversations to the dance scene in Mozambique.
A program in partnership with Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, with the institutional support of Camões, I.P. and decor support by Around the Tree.


>The imposition of social distance brought us other possibilities to generate improbable encounters. It revealed ideas and questions we hadn't asked yet - about the resonance of experiences beyond the time when they took place - and suggested that we talk.
>
>So, we perfused the months of 2021 with _A Collection for Tomorrow_ - ten conversations with ten people invited to reflect on creation, world, art, and politics and to follow this unique movement taking place over the last thirty or forty years and bringing us here. 
>
>Along the way, we have influenced each other. In 2022, and because dance travels, goes back and forth, and makes comparisons, we want to transform the imaginary bridge standing between Lisbon and Maputo, as well as going through the inverse route, by publishing the second collection of conversations. When do we discover things which are better than ourselves, at the same time that we discover in ourselves traces of what we imagined to be others'?
>
>Lisbon and Maputo are cities connected by the marks of those who have woven invisible threads associating the body's memory to all the other memories we will bring together, now in a systematized way, resulting in a new collection of conversations.
>
>Cristina Peres, 2022   


###### Part  I
Quito Tembe
_[I am a mirror of the issue of professionalization of art in Maputo](https://youtu.be/zbotY1zKE8Q)_


###### Part  II
Maria Helena Pinto
_[Dance has become a political path](https://youtu.be/VTJb-0sEjz0)_


###### Part  III
Panaibra Canda
_[This Mozambique is full of diversity](https://youtu.be/ity6XkBApzU)_


###### Part  IV
Edna Jaime
_[Artivism - my work impacts the world](https://youtu.be/5tgS7SvNP40)_


###### Part  V
Pak Ndjamena
_[Persist, insist, go back, and...it happens!](https://youtu.be/WGh2FDx40I0)_


###### Part  VI
Ídio Chichava
_[Emancipate Mozambique](https://youtu.be/LBWqP24clvY)_


###### Part  VII
Horácio Macuácua
_[I didn't choose dance. Dance chose me.](https://youtu.be/hoe7NGAJWfs)_


###### Part VIII
Mariana Tembe
_[To keep a dialogue with the world](https://youtu.be/1yrZ76TDYoo)_


###### Part IX
Edivaldo Ernesto
_[My whole life influences what I do on stage](https://youtu.be/jfMu_LFSSFg)_


###### PART X
Yuck Miranda
_[What drives me in art is indignation](https://youtu.be/arlTEH7gWwg)_

###### More information
You can see the whole collection [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAO_nJtqGJzGzfNRxgzkwgeuMzDvE8nQU).


Coming to its 3rd edition, which follows a series of conversations dedicated to artists and cultural activists from Mozambique, _A Collection for Tomorrow_ will travel the Atlantic axis in 2023 and early 2024. Cristina Peres invites creators from Angola, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe, in a total of seven episodes. 

##### ⎯

##### Few people remember the social distance imposed by the pandemic that in 2020 and 2021 forced us to imagine other possibilities to communicate and provoke unusual encounters. The positive part of these limitations was the way we overcame them and how we got quite far. We gained the perspective that allowed us to ask the questions we had not yet asked, and we listened to the resonance of the experiences far beyond the time in which they happened. **We decided to engage in conversation**.
##### 2021 was the first year of _A Collection for Tomorrow_, ten conversations with ten people invited to reflect on artistic creation, world, art, and politics, bringing together a whole of experiences that contributed to and constituted the movement which, organized in such a unique way over the last 30, 40 years, brought us here.
##### Along the way, **we have influenced each other**. In 2022, and because dance travels, it moves, comes back and compares itself, we invented a way of building a two-way bridge connecting Lisbon to Maputo. Actually, it already existed; what we did was invite those who made the journey from here to there and from there to here to tell us all about it in a new collection of ten conversations. At what point did we discover things that are better than ourselves while at the same time finding in ourselves traces of what we imagined would be from others?
##### The invisible threads that link the body's memory to all other memories are not easily exhausted - this was the conclusion of these new ten conversations that we gathered at a distance. So, why not spread the discussion, moving from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, and propose again in 2023 a new _Collection for Tomorrow_? Lisbon - Cape Verde, Angola and S. Tomé and Príncipe are waiting for a connection.
##### Cristina Peres, 2023

###### Invited artists:
##### Ana Clara Guerra Marques (Angola)
##### Aneth e Miguel Carlos (Angola)
##### António Tavares (Cape Verde)
##### Bibiana Figueiredo (São Tomé e Príncipe)
##### Lucièny Cabral & Nuno Barreto (Cape Verde)
##### Mano Preto (Cape Verde)
##### Mónica Anapaz (Angola)

###### You can watch the program [HERE](https://youtu.be/VqGBXj5Xl00).



A Collection for Tomorrow ⏤ Atlantic Axis

>_**A Collection for Tomorrow**_
>##### (the people we are going to be)
>Before the world underwent the great change that 2020 brought us globally and almost simultaneously, dance was no longer just the art of the virtuous, aerial, indisputable body outside the canons that allowed it to fly, but at the same time locked it in a code that removed it from the larger discussion of the body. 
>The dancing body opened the way to the expression of many other bodies and to a diversity of experiences that created a mixture. Cutting short the story, which is after all recent, we decided to add the word and reflection to formulate in another way, and in parallel, the discoveries that the bodies led us to make.
>
> The imposition of social distance brought us other possibilities of having or provoking unlikely encounters. It gave us ideas about the questions we hadn't yet asked, about the resonance of experiences beyond the subject matter dealt with at the time. 
> 
> For the collective memory, thousands of themes that made us the people we are today remain unnamed. We want to know more about the paths of the people who, in the past, led to breakthroughs in Portuguese performing arts, whether that time was ten, 20 or 30 years ago. We want to know who they are today and why they are like that. And to discover who we are after having come across them.  
> 
> Dance in Portugal has traveled. It went outside and came back, it compared itself. To compare oneself to the reality of the other is the greatest and most essential experience in the construction of the self. At what point do we discover things that are better than us at the same time that we discover in ourselves traces of what we imagined to be in others?
> 
> Dance relates to a multiplicity of "layers" of all people and, therefore, of the public too. We might be more used to resorting to reason to discuss what we saw in a performance, but our muscles "saw" us at the same time. Did the muscles "talk" about the experience? Probably not. Hence, the series of interviews promoted by the EVC will be dedicated to the questions that were never asked to people who were there at the time, and are here again. Maybe they were headliners then, yet now they will be reflecting. And they are going to transform those who were not headliners into protagonists of the change that made us as we are. 
> 
> I, Cristina Peres, will ask the questions and lead people to question themselves. I was there ten, 20, 30 years ago, but I haven't seen everything, either. As we can never have a clear notion of the present, the past, and the future in a single moment, we will try to look at the trace that remained, valuing our being a point of arrival. And, even more, serving as a bridge to what is to come.
> 
> One or two guests. One theme. A conversation that is meant to travel as far as dance can go. Without limits of time or space, building a collection for tomorrow.
>
> Cristina Peres, 2021



###### Part I 
Marlene Monteiro Freitas
_[Pieces are living entities](https://youtu.be/yCN27S_SjtA)_

###### Part II
Clara Andermatt
_[To choose the best surprises](https://youtu.be/HSFdhAxJWOE)_

###### Part III
André Guedes
_[Generating spontaneous complicity](https://youtu.be/nJey-jEeWI0)_

###### Part IV
Vera Mantero
_[The party of conjugation](https://youtu.be/WebwaqDphyE)_

###### Part V
António Pinto Ribeiro
_[We are willingly going blind](https://youtu.be/BHMMcPDdneg)_

###### Part VI
Mark Deputter
_[The first impulse is to be fascinated by the work](https://youtu.be/ZyyeX25WT3U)_

###### Part VII
João Fiadeiro
_[Suspending Certainty](https://youtu.be/XJGYv6y2zP8)_

###### Part VIII
João Lucas
_[Discovering the world beyond what it is](https://youtu.be/-clcK1BzGUo)_

###### Part IX
Miguel Abreu 
_[The non-coexistence of diversity destroys culture](https://youtu.be/ClpbpwFFmkw)_

###### Part X
Olga Roriz
_[The soul of the shoe is me](https://youtu.be/_J9gBSiY9Co)_

###### More information
You can watch the entire collection [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAO_nJtqGJzH_jYr9EMTjIhDVFfMK-oZS).



A Collection for Tomorrow


In the new edition of the series A Collection for Tomorrow, Cristina Peres collects short statements by choreographers on fundamental questions about the state of the world.

“Almost everything has changed in the world today, but many modus operandi remain unchanged. Faced with two active wars, a significant increase in the planet's average temperature, a continent of plastic waste drifting in the oceans, an economic model based on growth that is leaving millions more people on the margins every year and global consumption that is exhausting the earth of natural resources earlier and earlier in the year, we want to hear from the artists. Do these issues weigh on the choices they make? Do they go into the studio with them everyday? What kind of questions do they ask themselves when a member of their team is barred entry to their country of work? Is art safe from aggression? Is it immune to xenophobia? If not, how can it be strengthened? What are they doing to keep art a bastion of humanity?”

This program is designed to question renowned choreographers  and hear what they have to say about current events. In addition to the reflection process involved in creating a piece, we want them to tell us how they perceive the world. We went after their words so that we could turn them into short and quick messages adapted to the frenetic rhythm of our times.”

Cristina Peres

- Complete series on our [YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@estudiosvictorcordon). 

A Collection for Tomorrow ⏤ À la Minute

A Collection for Tomorrow ⏤ Lisbon | Maputo

As part of the program planned for the triennium 2021-2023 in partnership with Camões - Centro Cultural Português de Maputo, this workshop is developed to share with other dance professionals the work of Portuguese choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes.

###### Target Audience
Dance professionals


The result of a partnership between Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, "Bantu" is a new work by choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes and features both Portuguese and Mozambican performers.
The audition for the play will take place on 3, 4 and 5 February at the EVC and at the Teatro Nacional São João.

Audition ⎯ Bantu

Workshop in Maputo

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to their well-being. The monthly schedule of these practices is available in the monthly schedule.


###### Classical Dance
Mondays and Wednesdays: 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

###### Price
10€ / class (insurance required)

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to healthy physical condition. 
 
###### Classical Dance
Mondays: 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm

###### Price
7,5€ / class (insurance required)

Dance Classes for Adults

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to healthy physical condition. 

###### CLASSICAL DANCE
Mondays: 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm 

###### PRICE
7,5€ / class (insurance required)

DANCE CLASSES FOR ADULTS ⏤ APRIL

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to healthy physical condition.

##### CLASSICAL DANCE
Mondays: 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm

##### PRICE
7,5€ / class (insurance required)

DANCE CLASSES FOR ADULTS ⏤ March

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to healthy physical condition.

###### CLASSICAL DANCE
##### Mondays and wednesdays
##### 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm

###### PRICE
7,5€ / class (insurance required)

DANCE CLASSES FOR ADULTS ⏤ MAY

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to healthy physical condition.

###### CLASSICAL DANCE
##### Mondays and Wednesdays
6:15 pm - 7:45 pm

###### PRICE
##### 7,5€ / class (insurance required)

DANCE CLASSES FOR ADULTS ⏤ JUNE

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to healthy physical condition.

###### CLASSICAL DANCE
##### Mondays and Wednesdays
##### 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm

###### PRICE
##### 10€ / class (insurance required)

Dance classes for adults ⎯ October

Dance classes for adults ⎯ November

DANCE CLASSES FOR ADULTS ⎯ DECEMBER

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to their well-being.
 
###### Classical Dance
##### Mondays
##### Wednesdays
##### 6:15 pm ─ 7:45 pm

###### Price
10€ / class (insurance required)

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to their well-being.

###### Classical Dance
##### Mondays
##### Wednesdays
##### 6:15 pm ─ 7:45 pm

###### Price
10€ / class (insurance required)

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ March

Dance classes for Adults — April

##### Come on and dance with us!
##### Next April 29th marks International Dance Day and Estúdios Victor Córdon are organizing a ball evening open to everyone who wishes to celebrate the body and the joy of dancing.

##### The ball at the EVC starts with a workshop by Miguel Ângelo, in which participants will learn the basic steps of two Latin ballroom dances.

##### This event is open to anyone, regardless of their dance experience.

###### WHEN
APRIL 29
###### SCHEDULE
6.30—8.30pm
###### FREE ENTRY
subject to registration
###### INSTRUCTOR
Miguel Ângelo


BALL AT EVC ⏤ International Dance Day

Classical dance classes designed for beginners or for those who have always been connected to dance and want to continue this practice as a means to their well-being.

###### Classical Dance
##### Mondays
##### Wednesdays
##### 6:15 pm ─ 7:45 pm

###### Price
10€ / class (insurance required)


Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ May

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ June

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ July

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ September

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ October

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ November

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ December

Dance Classes for Adults ⏤ January

Daily Classes ⎯ February

Dance Classes ⏤ Adults

Already in its 6th edition, the _Territory_ program, dedicated to young dancers between the ages of 14 and 18, invites choreographers of unquestionable international relevance, giving the opportunity for several talented dance students to work and learn with renowned artists. Throughout its various editions, _Territory_ has already welcomed more than 70 young people from all over the country, from about 40 dance schools spread over more than 30 Portuguese cities. In 2023, 10 dancers were selected through dance education institutions in Alcobaça, Braga, Coimbra, Faro, Lisboa, Porto, Vale do Sousa and Vila Nova de Gaia.

Every year, EVC invites an acclaimed and an emerging choreographer to lead the program. Featuring the presentation of a new creation, a must-see reprise, and the premiere of a short film by a promising young director, this year the program is honored to welcome choreographer duo Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, choreographer Douglas Lee and director Mário J. Negrão.

The selected dancers will have the opportunity to benefit from the knowledge and aesthetic vision of the guest choreographers, in a professionalizing experience that promotes a diverse and inclusive outlook. Offering the Portuguese audience the possibility to watch, in some cases for the first time, international and contemporary works, in previous editions the program has already featured names such as Wayne McGregor, Marco Goecke, Marcos Morau or Alexander Ekman. 

With a professional background as dancers, León & Lightfoot are renowned choreographers who have been active for more than 30 years. Working together since 1989, they have created more than 60 pieces for the Nederlands Dans Theater. 

In _Territory VI_, the duo, who will be in Portugal for the first time, will rehearse and present a reprise of the reference play _Sad Case_, performed by the participants. Created in 1998, when Sol was pregnant with her daughter, _Sad Case_ is now celebrating 25 years of existence and is one of the main cornerstones of the choreographers' work.

Douglas Lee, who will create and present a new piece with the young dancers, graduated from the Royal Ballet School and was principal dancer at the Stuttgart Ballet, where he began choreographing, and later developed a career as a freelance artist.

_Territory VI_ will also have the collaboration of Mário J. Negrão, winner of the Territory Award | Estúdios Victor Córdon in the category of Best Portuguese Director at InShadow - Lisbon ScreenDance Festival 2022. With his own visual identity, the artist will present us his perspective on the program through a new short film to be projected in the show. 

After premiering at Teatro Nacional S. João (Porto), the show will wrap up the Millennium Festival ao Largo (Lisbon) and then head to Leiria, where the last performance will take place.



Dedicated to young dancers, the _Territory_ program has welcomed a range of internationally renowned choreographers, such as Wayne McGregor, Marco Goecke, Marcos Morau or Alexander Ekman. Each year, EVC invites one acclaimed and one emerging choreographer to lead the program. This sixth edition will feature the duo Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, and Douglas Lee. 

On the 18th of February, the EVC will welcome many young dancers from all over the country for an audition, where up to 10 people will be selected. The selected dancers will have the opportunity to benefit from the knowledge and aesthetic vision of the guest choreographers, in a professionalizing and empowering experience of a diverse and inclusive look. 

The creation process takes place over a month at the EVC and the premiere is scheduled for the 21st and 22nd of July at Teatro Nacional São João, followed by presentations at the Millennium Festival ao Largo (Lisbon) and Teatro José Lúcio da Silva (Leiria).

Audition ⎯ Territory VI

Already in its 6th edition, the _Território_ program, dedicated to young dancers aged 14 to 18, invites choreographers of unquestionable international relevance, giving several talented dance students the opportunity to work with and learn from renowned artists.

Each year, EVC invites one acclaimed and one emerging choreographer to lead the program. Featuring the presentation of a new creation, a must-see reprise, and the premiere of a short film by a promising young director, this year the program is honored to welcome choreographer duo Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, choreographer Douglas Lee, and director Mário J. Negrão.

The young dancers will have the chance to benefit from the knowledge and aesthetic vision of the guest choreographers, in a professionalizing experience that promotes a diverse and inclusive outlook. 

In _Territory VI_, Sol León & Paul Lightfoot travelled to Portugal for the first time to rehearse and present a reprise of the reference piece _Sad Case_, performed by the participants. Besides the learning process with the Dutch duo, the dancers are being choreographed by Douglas Lee, who is presenting a new work as part of the program. Finally, while the young dancers inhabit EVC and give their best, director Mário J. Negrão follows the process of creation and rehearsals, to make a short film that reflects his vision on the program and these young people's journey throughout several weeks. The shooting, directing and editing of the short film takes place during the creation phase. 

Territory VI - CREATION

Now in its 6th edition, the _Territory_ program, aimed at young dancers between the ages of 14 and 18, invites choreographers of undeniable international relevance, giving several talented dance students the opportunity each year to work with and learn from renowned artists. 

This year, after its premiere at Teatro Nacional São João, the final show of the program will be staged in Largo de São Carlos, Lisbon, closing the Millennium Festival ao Largo program for the second year in a row. Over two nights, the ten young dancers from all over Portugal will perform Sol León & Paul Lightfoot's emblematic piece _Sad Case_ and Douglas Lee's new creation. 

To go along with the presentation of the two pieces, the short film directed by Mário J. Negrão, who followed the dancers and choreographers during the creation phase at EVC, will be screened for the first time. The short film aims to show us the director's unique vision of the program, allowing us to get a glimpse of the learning and sharing process he witnessed. 

Territory VI - Millennium Festival ao Largo

Now in its 6th edition, the _Territory_ program, aimed at young dancers between the ages of 14 and 18, invites choreographers of undeniable international relevance, giving several talented dance students the opportunity each year to work with and learn from renowned artists. 

After premiering at the Teatro Nacional São João, in Porto, and performing at the Millennium Festival ao Largo, in Lisbon, the program's final show will be presented one last time in Leiria, at Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, thus closing _Territory_'s sixth edition, marked by a great deal of dedication and creativity. In a unique occasion, the ten young dancers from all over Portugal will perform Sol León & Paul Lightfoot's emblematic piece _Sad Case_ and Douglas Lee's new creation. 

To go along with the presentation of the two pieces, the short film directed by Mário J. Negrão, who followed the dancers and choreographers during the creation phase at EVC, will be screened for the first time. The short film aims to show us the director's unique vision of the program, allowing us to get a glimpse of the learning and sharing process he witnessed. 

Territory VI ⎯ Teatro José Lúcio da Silva

Now in its 6th edition, the _Territory_ program, aimed at young dancers between the ages of 14 and 18, invites choreographers of undeniable international relevance, giving several talented dance students the opportunity each year to work with and learn from renowned artists.

This year, the premiere of the program's show will take place in an important theater in the north of the country. Over two nights, the ten young dancers from all over Portugal will perform on the stage of Teatro Nacional São João, in Porto, and will perform Sol León & Paul Lightfoot's emblematic piece _Sad Case_ and Douglas Lee's new creation. 

To go along with the presentation of the two pieces, the short film directed by Mário J. Negrão, who followed the dancers and choreographers during the creation phase at EVC, will be screened for the first time. The short film aims to show us the director's unique vision of the program, allowing us to get a glimpse of the learning and sharing process he witnessed. 

Territory VI - PREMIERE

In its 6th edition, the _Territory_ program invites to Portugal choreographer's duo Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, and choreographer Douglas Lee. 
The program works as a platform for early career development, annually selecting up to ten young dancers from dance schools across the country. 
Applications must be submitted through an online form, to be filled out exclusively by the candidates' teaching institutions. All dance schools in the country can apply their students to the program, and each institution can propose a maximum of 5 candidates.
For more detailed information, institutions and candidates can consult the program regulation in the applications.

###### Main sponsor
Millennium bcp

Territory VI ⏤ Applications

_Territory_ is a program dedicated to young dancers aged between 14 and 18 from dance schools all over the country. Every year the program welcomes internationally renowned choreographers who share their works and creative processes with the group of young people selected for each edition.  

Over the course of its many editions, _Territory_ has welcomed more than 80 young dancers from across the country, coming from nearly 40 dance schools in over 30 Portuguese cities.

In 2024, and in line with the other programs of this season, we propose a show that hints at possible new paths for contemporary dance. On the one hand, we have invited the renowned British-Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan, who, by incorporating elements of classical Indian Kathak dance into his works, contributes to redefining our idea of what dance is. On the other hand, EVC will welcome Jermaine Spivey, an emerging American choreographer who, alongside a brilliant career as a dancer, actively promotes the possibility of collaborative practice in his creative processes.

_Territory VII_ will also feature a film by director João Sanchez, winner of the Território | Estúdios Victor Córdon award for Best Portuguese Director from InShadow - Lisbon ScreenDance Festival 2023. 


Territory VII

Territory is a program dedicated to young dancers aged between 14 and 18 from dance schools all over the country. Over the course of its many editions, the program has welcomed more than 90 young dancers from across the country, coming from nearly 40 dance schools.

In this eighth edition, the program features choreographers Marco Goecke and Nadav Zelner. By proposing this names, we reaffirm the need to establish and promote transformative professional experiences for each participating dancer. Marco Goecke, a choreographer associated with the most prestigious dance companies, brings a language of his own which dismantles a certain notion of a conventional vocabulary, determining highly trained bodies in his practice highly. This opens the path for a lexicon that is entirely unexpected, exact, and devoid of decorative elements. In his turn, with choreographer on the rise Nadav Zelner, performers will have the opportunity to experience an intense searching process combining various areas of artistic creation, which process will present a vision of a choreographic gesture undergoing profound changes, reflecting the rapid and dramatic transformations of the world in which we live.

This edition will also feature a film directed by Alexia Fernandes, winner of the Território | Estúdios Victor Córdon award for Best Portuguese Director from InShadow - Lisbon ScreenDance Festival 2024.

After its premiere in Porto, the Territory VIII performance will move on to Lisbon, where it will be performed at the Millenium Festival ao Largo, concluding its cycle at Teatro Aveirense.

Territory VIII

Territory VI

New program that aims to support independent artistic production structures, for one or more seasons, in the development of projects that complement the action of the EVC. The support is given through co-production or collaboration in programs proposed by these structures, whose themes and objectives meet the interests and needs of our community. 

With a focus on the promotion of knowledge, _Season Partners_ is thus expanding the space dedicated to artistic practices and research of the artistic community, fostering the sharing of responsibility in action and encouraging cooperation.

###### PARASITA
_Wording Dances _ 

A series of lectures presented in podcast format, in which distinguished artists from around the world talk about issues that make contemporary dance and its various manifestations an endless ground for questioning and creation. Curated by Carlos Manuel Oliveira.


###### Ordem do O
_ECOSYSTEM.dances.bodies_
Cycle of conversations, masterclasses, lectures and workshops

Program that proposes alternative ways of sharing in a stimulating context, where artists and public meet. Curated by Cláudia Galhós and mediated by Natacha Campos. 

Margarida Bettencourt + Piny (masterclass) + a.ves liberta
Liliana Garcia + Joana Providência (masterclass) + Joãozinho da Costa
Beatriz Marques Dias (masterclass / workshop / creation of handmade books, from the talks' notebooks) + Madalena Victorino + Josefa Pereira
Xana Novais + Joana Castro (masterclass) + Olga Roriz

###### Coffeepaste
Workshops and training

In the context of the new EVC program entitled _Season Partners_, a partnership with the portal for the dissemination of performing arts Coffeepaste will be launched. In this regard, Coffeepaste will propose a cycle of events dedicated to dance practices to take place in our space. This cycle will include workshops and other modalities of sharing artistic research in this area.





EVC hosts Coffeepaste as one of the _Season Partners_, a program that aims to support independent artistic production structures in the development of projects that complement EVC's action.  With a focus on the promotion of knowledge, _Season Partners_ thus comes to expand the space dedicated to artistic practices and research in the artistic community, fostering the sharing of responsibility in action and encouraging cooperation.

###### The author of the Theater review doesn't have the hand of God, only his Achilles heel

##### _A man must serve his time to every trade. Save censure — critics are ready-made._ Lord Byron

This workshop aims to analyze the role of the (non-)existence of theater critique in Portugal, its purposes, methods and types of discourse; discuss the difference between _to opine_ and _to review_;  talk about the essentiality of what is being discussed when criticizing; outline the essential aspects that make up a theater review and provide participants the ability to produce them.

###### Sharing meanings
_Dance can be discussed, debated, written about, analyzed and explored from a wide variety of perspectives._ Alexandra Carter (1994)

Taking into consideration the previous statement, the aim of this workshop on dance criticism is to identify points of view that make up the territory of the discipline, discussing them in terms of usefulness and opportunity for approaching choreographic work and its creators' trajectories. Thus, _what to criticize?_, _how to criticize?_, _why criticize?_, will function as guiding questions of a persistent and certainly unfinished debate. In a second session, the workshop will offer an opportunity to share ideas and texts of critical analysis about the same choreographic work.





theater and dance reviews workshop

ECOSYSTEM.dances.bodies is a project by Ordem do O in co-production with EVC, in the context of the Season Partners program. 

_Let's take dances. But which dances, we ask? Let's take bodies. But which bodies, we ask? Let's take multiplicity._

ECO.ntro #2 - "BECOMING - práticas de travessia", with Joana Castro
July 29th, from 10am to 1pm, at Estúdios Victor Córdon

_In this session, the idea is to share tools used in my artistic practice, in a constant exploration of the body through exercises that use voice in relation to movement, breaking habits and developing a mutant and versatile body._

ECO.ntro #2 ⎯ JOANA CASTRO

ECOSYSTEM.dances.bodies is a project by Ordem do O in co-production with EVC, in the context of the Season Partners program. 

_Let's take dances. But which dances, we ask? Let's take bodies. But which bodies, we ask? Let's take multiplicity._

This session invites everyone who has the space to share and listen. Bodies that emit and absorb in care, yet with places of friction. Bodies that understand spaces for sharing as spaces for caring for themselves and for the collective. However, there is no room for discrimination of any kind. It's about dance, but it's up to each person to discover how it's done.
I believe that understanding the reason for the form can be an enormous asset for understanding the dances that engage me/us.

Understanding not only through knowledge, but also through feeling - the two together. Pressure and oppression generate bodies. Freedom and pleasure generate other kinds of bodies. Struggles and protests have a specific weight. Celebration and festivities have a different weight. We carry our ancestry when we absorb other ancestries, and fully-filled bodies are immense movements.
##### Piny
 
 
###### ECO.ntro #3
##### "_DANCE[s] in intersectional, sensitive and political accumulation_", with Piny

##### 23 SEP, 2023
##### 10am ⏤ 1pm
##### Estúdios Victor Córdon
##### Free admission upon prior registration

ECO.ntro #3 ⏤ Piny

The renowned and talented Portuguese choreographer Tânia Carvalho will be at EVC to give a workshop to people with some experience in dance, which will take place over two afternoons in the last days of November. 

The dance workshop, entitled _6_, will consist of "movement composition exercises and exercises for creating choreographic schemes" or "other things that might come up", in her own words. "I like to observe the group and let myself be led by it too."

_6_ is part of the partnership that Estúdios Victor Córdon have established with the online platform Coffeepaste under the program _Season Partners_. This program aims to support independent artistic production structures, for one or more seasons, in the development of projects that complement the action of EVC. In this context, Coffeepaste has been proposing events dedicated to dance practices to take place in our space, including workshops and other modalities of sharing artistic research in this area.

The artist, born in Viana do Castelo, has a remarkable career in Portugal and abroad, especially in the field of dance, but she also dedicates herself to music, drawing and cinema, and has a vast and multidisciplinary body of work. 

More information [HERE](https://www.coffeepaste.com/workshop/andquot6andquot/)

"6" ⎯ Workshop with Tânia Carvalho

ECOSYSTEM.dances.bodies is a project by Ordem do O in co-production with EVC, in the context of the Season Partners program. 

_Let's take dances. But which dances, we ask? Let's take bodies. But which bodies, we ask? Let's take multiplicity._

The conversations integrated in ECOSSISTEMA.danças.corpos are entitled ECO.trade.stories and propose the exchange of stories and perspectives on body and dance with three dance artists.

Ecossistema.danças.corpos is curated and moderated by Claudia Galhós and Natacha Campos.

###### ECO.trade.story #3
##### with Piny, Liliana Garcia and Olga Roriz
##### SEP 23, 2023
##### Estúdios Victor Córdon

##### Free admission

ECO.trade.story #3 ⏤ Piny, Liliana Garcia e Olga Roriz

ECOSYSTEM.dances.bodies is a project by Ordem do O in co-production with EVC, in the context of the Season Partners program. 

_Let's take dances. But which dances, we ask? Let's take bodies. But which bodies, we ask? Let's take multiplicity._

The conversations integrated in ECOSSISTEMA.danças.corpos are entitled ECO.trade.stories and propose the exchange of stories and perspectives on body and dance with three dance artists.

Ecossistema.danças.corpos is curated and moderated by Cláudia Galhós and Natacha Campos.


###### ECO.TRADE.STORY #4
##### with Josefa Pereira, Pedro Ramos and Xana Novais
##### DEC 8, 2023
##### Estúdios Victor Córdon
##### Free admission

ECO.trade.story #4 ⏤ Josefa Pereira, Pedro Ramos and Xana Novais

ECOSYSTEM.dances.bodies is a project by Ordem do O in co-production with EVC, in the context of the Season Partners program. 

_Let's take dances. But which dances, we ask? Let's take bodies. But which bodies, we ask? Let's take multiplicity._

_Spiritual Dance – practices of an expanded body_ explores movement practices from an expanded view of the body as a psycho-physical whole, as "a piece of nature to be discovered". Pedro Ramos proposes a session based on the essential aspects of his artistic research: the practice of Yoga, alchemical studies, and Jung's work, as they relate to psychology, the performing arts - particularly dance - and Deep ecology. Through movement, in an immersive way, a particular tuning of consciousness in the body will be practiced - with the focus on breathing - as the _leitmotiv_ that links consciousness to movement, in both its biological and spiritual dimensions. 


###### ECO.ntro #4
##### _Spiritual Dance – practices of an expanded body_, with Pedro Ramos

##### 8 SEP, 2023
##### 10am ⏤ 1pm
##### Estúdios Victor Córdon
##### Free admission upon prior registration

ECO.ntro #4 ⏤ Pedro Ramos

Now in its second edition, Season Partners establishes partnerships with independent artistic production structures, for one or more seasons, to carry out projects of common interest.

The program, which has so far developed projects in collaboration with Associação Parasita, Ordem do O and the online portal Coffeepaste, expands the space dedicated to the artistic practices and research of the artistic community, fostering the sharing of responsibility in action and encouraging cooperation. In this edition, we are continuing the previously established partnerships and starting a new collaboration with Associação VAI, which brings us the OU.kupa project.

### Associação VAI
#### OU.kupa project
##### Curated by Piny
##### ⏤ OU.kupa Residencies
These residencies aim to open up space and time for artistic research in the studio, with mentoring, for areas of dance that have not been given much attention and space in institutional venues in Portugal, but which are part of the the cultural fabric, often made invisible. 
##### ⏤ With the project _OU.kupando - what fits in contemporary dance(s)?_, the aim is to broaden the spectrum of techniques that are shared in the contemporary dance practice for professionals offered by the EVC, making it possible to inscribe new dance histories - narratives that fill in the absences.

### Parasita
#### _Wording Dances_ - ongoing series
##### Curated by Carlos Manuel Oliveira
##### A series of lectures presented in podcast format, in which distinguished artists from around the world talk about issues that make contemporary dance and its various manifestations an endless ground for questioning and creation.
#### _Thinking about Audio Description for Contemporary Dance_
##### Curated by Ana Rita Teodoro
##### The EVC will host this collective training and research experience, curated by artist Ana Rita Teodoro, during the classical and contemporary dance observation sessions.

### Ordem do O
#### _Ecosystem.dances.bodies_
##### 2nd edition
##### Curated by Cláudia Galhós and mediated by Natacha Campos
##### _Ecosystem.dances.bodies_ is a project in movement, transformation and renewal, consisting of conversations, masterclasses, lectures and workshops. It proposes alternative ways of sharing in a stimulating context, where artists and public meet.

### Coffeepaste
#### Workshops and training
##### 2nd edition
##### In the context of a partnership with Coffeepaste, the portal for the dissemination of the performing arts will propose another cycle of events dedicated to dance studies, including workshops and the sharing of artistic practices in this field.

Season Partners 2024

Throughout the year, the Season Partners Program establishes partnerships with independent artistic production structures to share goals and to carry out projects of common interest. Having already collaborated with Associação Parasita, Ordem do Ó, Associação VAI (OU.kupa), and the online portal CoffeePaste in the context of this program, we have been expanding the space dedicated to the practices and research of the artistic community, promoting the sharing of responsibility in action and encouraging cooperation among structures.

### **Associação VAI — OU.kupa Project**

As part of the collaboration initiated in 2024, the OU.kupa Project together with Piny brought to the EVC creation practices and dance styles systematically made invisible in powerful institutional spaces, such as vogue, house, or breaking. In this year, we continue our collaboration with this project through a new series of conversations and classes offered by the EVC, with the aim of expanding the scope of common techniques that are part of daily practice for dance professionals. We set as our mission the recovery and inclusion of narratives and histories of dance, filling the existing lacunae.

### **Coffeepaste**

In the context of our partnership with Coffeepaste, a portal designed to support the artistic community and dedicated to the dissemination of the performing arts, we propose another cycle of events devoted to dance studies, which will include workshops and the sharing of artistic practices in this field.

**complementary training workshops for professionals / choreographers and specific dates to be confirmed**

Season Partners ⏤ 2025

Season Partners 2023

The entrance to the EVC building will be transformed into an exhibition space that will host exhibitions and installations by artists whose work has a connection to the performing arts.

###### _For a hapiness like this_ 
Victor Hugo Pontes, 20 years of artistic creation through images 

###### _3 anos de Itinerários_ 
Ágata Xavier, Tamara Seilman and an artist to be announced 

 


The book at the source of this lecture - Como uma Raça foi Imaginada - researches the beginnings of the history of western Judeophobia, and challenges the idea that Christianity was built after and in opposition to Judaism. On the contrary, it is indeed Judaism that was formed under the pressure of Christianity, at the same time adapting to the terms of the trial that its enemies had brought against it for centuries.
The same book also challenges the misleading identification of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism at the center of some contemporary debates. To what extent has Zionism, born as a distress response to modern Judeophobia, became its mirror? To what extent has Zionism inherited the ideological foundations that have always characterized the persecutors of the Jews?

Lecture ⏤ Antisemitism and the Imagination of a People-Race

#### _How the "Land of Israel" was Invented_

Shlomo Sand

S. SAND (b.1946) is a historian and Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University, where he taught Contemporary History. Son of Polish parents, Yiddish culture and Holocaust survivors, he spent the first two years of his life in a "camp for displaced persons" before his family emigrated to Israel, where he did his compulsory military service and fought in the Six Day War (1967). He received his PhD in 1982 from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. His research has focused on modern cultural history, the Zionist movement and the construction of Israel. Translated into more than 30 countries, _How the Jewish People Were Invented _(2008), _How the "Land of Israel" Was Invented _(2012) and _How I Stopped Being Jewish_ (2013) have given him worldwide projection. He is also the author of _Le XXe siècle à l'écran_ (2004), dedicated to cinema. More recently he published _How a Race was Invented_ (2020), describing the process of racialisation of the Jews, taking place between Judeophobic Europe and nationalist Israel, denouncing in both cases the phobia towards the "other", who was once Jewish and with disturbing frequency now tends to be Arab.

Shlomo Sand sees Israel as a fait accompli, but calls for the transformation of the Jewish state into a state of all its citizens, regardless of ethnicity or religion.

Book launch ⏤ How the "Land of Israel" was Invented

#### _How a Rece was Imagined_

Shlomo Sand

S. SAND (b.1946) is a historian and Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University, where he taught Contemporary History. Son of Polish parents, of Yiddish culture and Holocaust survivors, he was born and spent the first two years of his life in a "camp for displaced persons" before his family emigrated to Israel, where he did his compulsory military service and fought in the Six Day War (1967). He received his PhD in 1982 from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. His research has focused on modern cultural history, the Zionist movement and the construction of Israel. With translations in more than 30 countries, How the Jewish People Were Invented (2008), How the "Land of Israel" Was Invented (KKYM+P.OR.K, 2021) and How I Stopped Being Jewish (2013) have given him worldwide projection. He is also the author of Le XXe siècle à l'écran (2002), dedicated to cinema.

Book launch ⏤ How a Race was Imagined

_FOR A HAPPINESS LIKE THIS_
Victor Hugo Pontes, 20 years of artistic creation through images


Plastic, chameleonic, striking: these are adjectives commonly used to describe Victor Hugo Pontes' works, which are recognized for their visual power. The year 2023 marks two decades of continuous and challenging artistic creation, at the intersection between dance and theater, in a equilibrium that is in total articulation with set, costume, lighting and sound design. 

Victor Hugo Pontes is an artist of images, and has gathered over the years an extraordinary photographic - and artistic - archive of his pieces. He has invited or been challenged by great photographers to accompany his work, and it is a selection of these images that is now being shown to the public for the first time.

This exhibition is part of At Home program, of which Victor Hugo Pontes is the guest artist this year. 2023 is the year of celebration of 20 years of the Portuguese choreographer's career, and he will make the EVC his home for new projects and encounters with various formats, through multiple ways of approaching and promoting a reflection on his path.

###### Free entry




FOR A HAPPINESS LIKE THIS ⎯ Exhibition

Area

The Support for Auditions Program continues to provide artists with the necessary conditions to participate in selection processes for training programs or casts. Thus, the studios open their doors to performers who need a space to record audiovisual materials for auditions or academic tests.

The EVC open its doors to universities or equivalent institutions in some of their training programs. With this initiative, we aim to consolidate the relationships established with these institutions for the benefit of new generations of dance artists.







Support for Dance Education Institutions

###### Support for Auditions

The Support for Auditions Program continues to provide artists with the necessary conditions to participate in selection processes for training programs or casts. Thus, the studios open their doors to performers who need a space to record audiovisual materials for auditions or academic tests. Applications can be submitted online on our website throughout the year.

###### Support for Dance Education Institutions

We open our doors to universities and other higher education institutions in some of our training programs. With this initiative, we aim to consolidate the relationships established with these institutions for the benefit of new generations of dance artists.

###### **partners** Escola Superior de Dança (ESD) — Master’s Degree in Choreographic Creation and Professional Practices (modules 4 and 6) | Forum Dança — PACAP (intensive module)

Other Supports

Support for Auditions

At the origin of _Bantu_, there was an invitation addressed to Victor Hugo Pontes by Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, to develop a new piece performed by Mozambican and Portuguese dancers.

Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões – Portuguese Cultural Centre in Maputo have decided to develop a partnership for a joint programming over three seasons, which results from a desire to build bridges between the two countries and enable the mobility and internationalization of dance. _Bantu_ is thus the result of this partnership, and is born with the goal of crossing cultures and bringing the two countries closer together, allowing the training, circulation and internationalization of the performers. 

As for the program's title, _Bantu_ refers to a family of languages spoken in sub-Saharan Africa. In Mozambique you can hear several Bantu languages; the predominant one is Macua. But _Bantu_ means more than one linguistic occurrence. It can also be: a language of its own that survived the imposed European languages; an identity mechanism; a body system "spoken" by Africans; a sign that remained closed to the colonizer; a form of communication with its own cultural, historical, religious, and political codes; an ephemeral materialization of the longest encounter. Bantu, the title, takes in everything we want or imagine _Bantu_, the piece, to be. The world is perceived from the language we speak: perhaps this was more or less Pessoa's idea when he wrote the famous and misunderstood phrase about the Portuguese language. In _Bantu_, Victor Hugo Pontes will walk the path that leads to an encounter with a language that is probably even devoid of words. We know that when one speaks with the body, a universal language is used, and that this is the language of dance.

It happens that, from the different geographies we inhabit - in a country or on a stage - we have different perspectives of the same world, and so we can never speak the same language, or see the same things, or get to the same places. _Bantu_ is a path to be traced. And the journey will be made across two continents, between two countries with complex affinities and deep memories of each other.

The meeting point will be a surprise.


The result of a partnership between Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, "Bantu" is a new work by choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes and features both Portuguese and Mozambican performers. 
After the audition on February 3, 4 and 5, at the EVC and at the São João National Theatre, the creation process begins in August, which extends until its premiere at TNSJ, from October 5 to 8, 2023.

BANTU ⏤ Creation

The result of a partnership between Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, _Bantu_, the new work by Portuguese choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes, will be presented for the first time from October 5 to 8 at Teatro Nacional São João (Porto).

Celebrating 20 years of choreographic work, Victor Hugo Pontes presents a piece which brings together Portuguese and Mozambican performers, breaking down the distance between two continents and between different languages, risking to invent a shared place and a common celebratory language.

__Bantu_ refers to a family of languages spoken in sub-Saharan Africa. In Mozambique you can hear several Bantu languages; the predominant one is Macua. But _Bantu_ means more than one linguistic occurrence. It can also be: a language of its own that survived the imposed European languages; an identity mechanism; a body system "spoken" by Africans; a sign that remained closed to the colonizer; a form of communication with its own cultural, historical, religious, and political codes; an ephemeral materialization of the longest encounter. Bantu, the title, takes in everything we want or imagine _Bantu_, the piece, to be._

EVC and Camões - Maputo are partners in a program that aims to build bridges between Portugal and Mozambique.

###### CREDITS
##### Artistic direction | Victor Hugo Pontes 
##### Set design | F. Ribeiro 
##### Music | Throes & The Shine 
##### Technical direction and lighting design | Wilma Moutinho 
##### Sound design and technician | João Monteiro 
##### Costumes | Cristina Cunha and Victor Hugo Pontes 
##### Assistant director | Cátia Esteves 
##### Artistic consultancy | Madalena Alfaia 
##### Production manager | Joana Ventura 
##### Executive producer | Mariana Lourenço 
##### Production assistant | Inês Guedes Pereira 
##### Cast | Dinis Abudo Quilavei, Dinis Duarte, João Costa, José Jalane, Maria Emília Ferreira, Marta Cardoso, Osvaldo Passirivo 
##### Trainee performer | Francisco Freire 
##### A program by | OPART / Estúdios Victor Córdon, Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo 
##### Institutional partner of Estúdios Victor Córdon | Camões, I.P. 
##### Production | Nome Próprio 
##### Co-production | A Oficina / Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Camões - Centro Cultural Português em Maputo, Casa das Artes de Famalicão, OPART / Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, Teatro Nacional São João 
##### Support for Artistic Residency | A Oficina, CRL - Central Elétrica, OPART/Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro Municipal do Porto

###### More info [HERE](https://estudiosvictorcordon.pt/en/programs/bantu-1)

###### Online ticket office [HERE](https://www.tnsj.pt/pt/espetaculos/6731/bantu).



Bantu ⏤ Premiere

The result of a partnership between Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, "Bantu", the new work by Portuguese choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes, will be touring in Portugal between October 2023 and the first months of 2024, making a slight detour for an essential stop at the next edition of Kinani - International Contemporary Dance Festival, in Mozambique.

###### Tour

#### 2023
##### Premiere - 5-8 October | Teatro Nacional São João, Porto
##### October 13 | Casa das Artes de Famalicão
##### October 20 | Teatro Viriato, Viseu
##### 27 October | Teatro Aveirense, Aveiro
##### November 15 | Kinani Festival, Mozambique

#### 2024
##### January 18 - 20 | Teatro Nacional São Carlos, Lisboa
##### 23 February | Centro de Arte de Ovar
##### 29 February | Teatro Académico Gil Vicente, Coimbra
##### date to be announced | GUIdance Festival, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarães
##### date to be announced | Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, Leiria


###### CREDITS
##### Artistic direction | Victor Hugo Pontes 
##### Set design | F. Ribeiro 
##### Music | Throes & The Shine 
##### Technical direction and lighting design | Wilma Moutinho 
##### Sound design and technician | João Monteiro 
##### Costumes | Cristina Cunha and Victor Hugo Pontes 
##### Assistant director | Cátia Esteves 
##### Artistic consultancy | Madalena Alfaia 
##### Production manager | Joana Ventura 
##### Executive producer | Mariana Lourenço 
##### Production assistant | Inês Guedes Pereira 
##### Cast | Dinis Abudo Quilavei, Dinis Duarte, João Costa, José Jalane, Maria Emília Ferreira, Marta Cardoso, Osvaldo Passirivo 
##### Trainee performer | Francisco Freire 
##### A program by | OPART / Estúdios Victor Córdon, Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo 
##### Institutional partner of Estúdios Victor Córdon | Camões, I.P. 
##### Production | Nome Próprio 
##### Co-production | A Oficina / Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Camões - Centro Cultural Português em Maputo, Casa das Artes de Famalicão, OPART / Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, Teatro Nacional São João 
##### Support for Artistic Residency | A Oficina, CRL - Central Elétrica, OPART / Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro Municipal do Porto

###### EVC and Camões - Centro Cultural Português in Maputo are partners in a program that aims to build bridges between Portugal and Mozambique.


BANTU ⏤ Casa das Artes de Famalicão

The result of a partnership between Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, _BANTU_, the new work by Portuguese choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes, counted with an essential stop at the Kinani - International Contemporary Dance Festival, in Mozambique, and will continuing touring in Portugal until 2025:

###### Tour

#### 2023
##### [Premiere] - 5-8 October | Teatro Nacional São João, Porto
##### October 13 | Casa das Artes de Famalicão
##### October 20 | Teatro Viriato, Viseu
##### October 27 | Teatro Aveirense, Aveiro
##### November 15 | Kinani Festival, Mozambique

#### 2024
##### [Premiere] January 18 - 20 | Teatro Nacional São Carlos, Lisboa
##### February 1 | GUIdance Festival, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarães
##### February 17 | Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, Leiria
##### February 23 | Centro de Arte de Ovar
##### February 29 | Teatro Académico Gil Vicente, Coimbra
##### March 15 - 16 | Teatro Baltazar Dias, Funchal
##### March 22 | Cineteatro Louletano, Loulé
##### April 12 | Teatro-Cine Torres Vedras, Torres Vedras

#### 2025
##### February 1 | Cine-Teatro de Estarreja
##### February 8 |  Teatro Municipal de Ourém
##### February 22 | Teatro Municipal da Covilhã
##### March 15 |  Centro Cultural de Paredes 

###### CREDITS
##### Artistic direction | Victor Hugo Pontes 
##### Set design | F. Ribeiro 
##### Music | Throes & The Shine 
##### Technical direction and lighting design | Wilma Moutinho 
##### Sound design and technician | João Monteiro 
##### Costumes | Cristina Cunha and Victor Hugo Pontes 
##### Assistant director | Cátia Esteves 
##### Artistic consultancy | Madalena Alfaia 
##### Production manager | Joana Ventura 
##### Executive producer | Mariana Lourenço 
##### Production assistant | Inês Guedes Pereira 
##### Cast | Dinis Abudo Quilavei, Dinis Duarte, João Costa, José Jalane, Maria Emília Ferreira, Marta Cardoso, Osvaldo Passirivo 
##### Trainee as a creative performer | Francisco Freire 
##### A program by | OPART / Estúdios Victor Córdon, Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo 
##### Institutional partner of Estúdios Victor Córdon | Camões, I.P. 
##### Production | Nome Próprio 
##### Co-production | A Oficina / Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Camões - Centro Cultural Português em Maputo, Casa das Artes de Famalicão, Nome Prórpio, OPART / Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, Teatro Nacional São João 
##### Support for Artistic Residency | A Oficina, CRL - Central Elétrica, OPART / Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro Municipal do Porto

###### EVC and Camões - Maputo are partners in a program that aims to build bridges between Portugal and Mozambique.


Bantu ⏤ Tour

Bantu

This intense day of talks dedicated to the theme Contemporary dance(s) - diaspora and Afro-descendants in the Portuguese artistic context is aimed in particular at arts professionals, but will be open to the general public, for free and with translation into Portuguese sign language (LGP).

###### program / schedule
##### 10 am 
#### **Welcoming of participants**
##### 10:30 am 
#### **Opening session**
##### 11:00 am 
#### _**Contemporary dances from and within the African diaspora**_
##### A discussion about contemporary dances from and within the African diaspora and their relationship with contemporary European dance theater. What relationships can be found between street dances, social dances and academic dances within a formal artistic system? What changes are needed to integrate other languages into the theatrical space?
##### with Hélio Santos, Jorge Cipriano, Nala Revlon
##### moderated by Piny
##### 1 pm 
#### Lunch break
##### 2:30 pm  
#### _**African and Afro-descendant performers and creators in contemporary dance theater in Portugal**_
##### Conversation about personal and professional experiences of Afro-descendants in the context of contemporary dance theater - forms of representation and representativeness.
##### with André Cabral, Ângela Guerreiro, Benvindo Fonseca
##### moderated by Piny
##### 4:30 pm 
#### **Conclusions and closing session**

###### Public in general, but specially directed to arts professionals
###### Free access
###### Portuguese sign language translation

Contemporary dance(s) - diaspora and Afro-descendants in the Portuguese artistic context

This year, we will be welcoming at EVC the prestigious Belgian company Peeping Tom, founded by Gabriela Carrizo (Argentina) and Franck Chartier (France), which, through the leadership of Brandon Lagaert, will dedicate a week of intensive training to dance professionals.

The training is paid, but GDA offers scholarships, awarded in order of confirmation of registration. Registration is limited to a maximum of 30 participants. Personal accident insurance is compulsory.

**About the instructor**

Brandon Lagaert joined the Belgian company Peeping Tom in 2013 for the creation of _Vader_. He has also created _Moeder_, _Kind_, _Dido & Aeneas_ and _La Visita_, and it was within the company that he developed his own style and became a multidisciplinary artist.  

In his own work, Lagaert combines elements from different fields, such as urban and contemporary dance, theater and film. As a stage director, he often starts from the perspective of the performer to establish a baseline, before addressing the overall structure of the work. He currently does so with his company, KAIHO, with which he created the award-winning pieces _Subdued_ and _Mondo Fuso_.

###### Week I ⏤ SOLD OUT
#### AUG 28 ─ SEP 1, 2023

##### 10am – 1pm
##### 2pm – 5pm

###### Week II
#### SEP 4 ─ SEP 9 2023

##### SEP 4 | 10am - 5pm
##### SEP 5 | 10am - 5pm
##### SEP 6 | 5:30pm - 9:30pm
##### SEP 7 | 5:30pm - 9:30pm
##### SEP 8 | 5:30pm - 9:30pm
##### SEP 9 | 10am - 5pm





KICK OFF'23

Intensive and complementary KOVA training for dance professionals. KOVA is the language, practice and composition tool developed by the choreographer Marcos Morau, in which the focus of the movement is not so much the contact with emotions and feelings but a deep connection with the body and the search for shapes and volumes.

###### Online registration

###### GDA Scholarships available

EVC Training ⎯ La Veronal

Now in its 3rd edition, which follows a series of conversations dedicated to artists and cultural activists from Mozambique, _A Collection for Tomorrow_ now dives into the Atlantic. The program's curator, Cristina Peres, invites artists from Angola, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe, making a total of seven episodes.

Luciene Cabral [stage name Luciény Kaabral] was born in Praia, Cape Verde, in 2001. She began her career as a dancer in the Raiz Di Polon company and met choreographer Nuno Barreto in a research laboratory on movement, body expression and traditional dances. In 2020 she joined the cast of the Sadler's Wells, Pina Bausch Foundation and École Des Sables production of "The Rite of Spring". She joined Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wupperttal as a dancer in 2023.

Djamilson Barreto dos Santos (stage name Nuno Barreto) was born in Praia and is 43 years old. He has been a dancer for over a decade, is a cultural activist and is part of the Raiz Di Polon dance company. He created and also performs the pieces Linhas di Kommuni, Torna Liga, Dos Porta, Cisne Pretu, Stratus di Sociedadi and Izulamentu20.

Luciény and Nuno co-founded the "Badju Kabu Kaba" project with the aim of promoting dance in Cape Verde.

###### You can watch the third conversation [here](https://youtu.be/1nU8_0NUdf8?list=PLAO_nJtqGJzE8V97xnoWXDWPoRV5nRbs9)

A Collection for Tomorrow ● Atlantic Axis ⏤ with Luciény Kaabral and Nuno Barreto

Now in its 3rd edition, which follows a series of conversations dedicated to artists and cultural activists from Mozambique, _A Collection for Tomorrow_ now dives into the Atlantic. The program's curator, Cristina Peres, invites artists from Angola, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe, making a total of seven episodes.

In the first episode of this new season, we go to Cape Verde to meet and listen to António Tavares, a choreographer and cultural agitator based in Mindelo (São Vicente). In addition to being a choreographer and cultural agitator, António Tavares also works as a dancer, researcher, musician and designer. He thinks of his dance within the framework of decolonization and believes that Cape Verde is waiting for a "bodily revolution" to free itself from the bonds of colonial times. Considered one of the key figures in the history of contemporary dance, he argues that dance, more than artistic performance, is philosophy, politics and utopia. 

###### You can watch the program [HERE](https://youtu.be/VqGBXj5Xl00).


A COLLECTION FOR TOMORROW ⏤ ATLANTIC AXIS with António Tavares

A series of conversations guided by Cristina Peres and directed by João Afonso Vaz, broadcasted on EVC's Youtube channel, dedicated to artists from Angola, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe. The series, which began in 2023, moves into the new season with the release of six new episodes.

A Portuguese-Angolan artist living in São Tomé and Príncipe, Bibiana Figueiredo is a dancer, dance teacher, choreographer and founder of the RaizArte project. She studied at Balleteatro (Porto) and has a degree in dance from Escola Superior de Dança (Lisboa). RaizArte promotes dance and theater through artistic training, community involvement and by organizing cultural events. 

She is currently preparing the third edition of XÊ- Festa da Dança Contemporânea 2024, the first contemporary dance festival in the country. She has a degree in Education from Universidade Aberta, (Portugal), and integrates art and education into her development projects.


You can watch the new episode [[here]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZgtDVF8QlY)


Events

Agonia no jardim — Miguel Bonneville→

Confluências — Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz→