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.

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Bantu

Fruto de uma parceria entre os Estúdios Victor Córdon e o Camões – Centro Cultural Português em Maputo, _Bantu_ é a nova criação de Victor Hugo Pontes e junta intérpretes portugueses e moçambicanos.
Depois da audição nos dias 3, 4 e 5 de fevereiro, nos EVC e no Teatro Nacional São João, inicia-se em agosto o processo de criação, que se estende até à sua estreia no TNSJ, de 5 a 8 de outubro de 2023.


Bantu ⏤ Criação

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.


BANTU ⏤ Creation

CONCEPT AND DEVELOPMENT

ARTISTIC DIRECTION

Production

CO-PRODUCERS

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNER

RESIDENCIES SUPPORT