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
Online ticket office HERE.
