This event, which includes both a practical class for dancers and dance students and a conversation open to the public, aims to give a window on the great richness of expression of Guinean dances and music and on the ancestral heritage present in them. The techniques, the aesthetics and the cultural contexts of a few of the many dances from the various Bissau-Guinean ethnic groups will be discussed. In a context of sharing and experiencing, under the guidance of **Ernesto Nambera** and the dancers from Grupo de Dança Contemporânea de Guiné-Bissau/Ballet Nacional (GB), we will get to know the inhabited dance as an ancestral, living "archive" of knowledge, where thought and contemporary practices intersect. The conversation will revolve around the echo of lived experience, discourse, knowledge, and the aesthetics that dwell in bodies and voices.

Events

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Esta sessão, que compreende uma aula prática dirigida a bailarinos ou estudantes de dança e uma conversa aberta ao público em geral, pretende ser uma janela sobre essa enorme riqueza de expressão e património ancestral ligado às danças e à música da Guiné. Serão abordadas as técnicas, estéticas e contextos culturais de algumas das muitas danças das várias etnias provenientes da Guiné-Bissau. Num contexto de partilha e vivência, orientadas por **Ernesto Nambera** e pelos bailarinos do Grupo de Dança Contemporânea de Guiné-Bissau/Ballet Nacional (GB), chegamos à dança habitada como “arquivo” vivo ancestral de saberes, que cruza pensamento e práticas contemporâneas. Na conversa, a reflexão sobre o eco da vivência, o discurso, o conhecimento e as estéticas que habitam os corpos e vozes.

Práticas Ancestrais — Laboratório

Extending a series of collaborations we have had since 2020 with Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and promoting creation and mobility of artists, this year’s PALOP 2025 Program is organized around two main axes:

## Guinea-Bissau: _Kurpu di Mundu_
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- **coordinator** Pedro Ramos
- **co-production** Estúdios Victor Córdon, Camões Bissau, Ballet Nacional da Guiné, Ordem do Ó

This project arises from a series of artist residencies and training programs between Guiné-Bissau and Portugal, from choreographers Ernesto Nambera and Pedro Ramos’ creative partnership, and from the exchange between collaborating dancers from Ordem do Ó and Ballet Nacional/Grupo de Dança Contemporânea da Guiné-Bissau. In _Kurpu di Mundu_, the aim is to reflect on some of the main concerns of today’s world at a political, social, and environmental level, but also on the potential of dance and the body to foster reflection on the possible meanings that engaging with others and with what surrounds us can have. Between past and present times, we propose an attunement to the multiple biological and spiritual realities, aligned with the feeling of belonging and of being connected to the earth.

## Mozambique: _Other Directions_ 
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- **coordinator** David Marques
- **coproduction** Estúdios Victor Córdon, Camões Maputo

In 2025, the EVC and the Portuguese choreographer David Marques will travel to Maputo in search of new connections and to meet again dance artists with whom they have already collaborated. These meetings are to be understood as a free space for dialogue, devoted both to the sharing of ways of doing and work tools and to the dance community’s concerns and needs. With these meetings, we wish to provide the occasion and time to conceive new possibilities of cooperation for the future, taking into account the challenges and the social, cultural, and political circumstances in present-day Mozambique and Portugal.