2025

After a year during which we proposed to think under the motto “_The world is the home of the body_”, taking up ideas from the context of immigrant communities in Portugal, along with other interculturalities running through the whole season, it was now urgent to think where we should direct the various paths we had opened up and, with them, to reflect on the essence of what is passed on, that unique gesture between the one who hands on and the one who receives. 

While it is true that every path brings us closer to the place we’re heading to, it is no less true that, as we move on, we stray further from our starting place. On the other hand, since those who leave aren’t always the same who arrive, the path presupposes a transmission process. Perhaps reflecting a time when we are celebrating 50 years of freedom against a growing tendency towards collective amnesia, which tendency reduces more and more the momentum of that first step, we ended 2024 with a renewed awareness of the necessity of making the past known, revisiting it and reading it anew. In this exercise of knowing and recognizing through the action of those who came before us lies a powerful driving force, capable of defending and furthering the civilizational conquests made throughout the ages.

In 1884, the ground we now stand on was home to Real Ginásio Clube Português, which remained here for about a century, before the arrival of Companhia Nacional de Bailado (the National Ballet of Portugal), which grew and established itself over three decades. In this space, a space for the practice of the body, we want to acknowledge the founding movement that preceded us in partnership with the current **Ginásio Clube Português** (Portuguese Gym Club) by bringing to light archive pictures of those pioneering athletes who sought physical excellence in this very place and, without realizing it, paved the way for a democratic and free access to these institutions. With that in mind, we will present each activity and idea included in our 2025 season through the distant, moving bodies of those pioneers, confirming that the determination to exceed oneself is timeless and inherent to the human condition.

The present is not an objective matter, and even less so is the past, which we perceive through written and oral transmissions. It is from this perception that we create the various narratives which shape what we think individually and collectively. And from this very subjectivity arises a need for revisiting places, events and characters that make up our historical narratives, as we see them in the light of the present.

Aiming to strengthen the collaborative spirit in creative processes, we highlight the **Young Composers** Program in this 2025 SEASON, once again coordinated by composer Luís Tinoco, now a Pessoa Prize winner, and co-coordinated by librettist and mezzo-soprano Marcia Belamy, dramaturg Stephan Plaice, and choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes. The program will open up new possibilities for participating creators and performers, crossing over to the artistic areas of composition, writing and choreography. 

Also in January, the piece _Sensorianas_, created by Clara Andermatt and exploring Persian culture, had its premiere as part of this year’s **Other Worlds** Program, focused on Iran in its first edition. After it premiered at Teatro Camões in Lisbon, the piece went on to be performed in Guimarães (as part of the GUIdance – International Contemporary Dance Festival), and it has scheduled performances in Aveiro (Teatro Aveirense), Viseu (Teatro Viriato), and Loulé (Cineteatro Louletano), as part of a series of activities in schools promoted in partnership with the National Arts Plan (PNA). At the same time, Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, our guest artists for the **At Home** Program, will be celebrating 20 years in activity with a program that gives prominence to the proposed theme, occupying the EVC’s studios, corridors, foyer, rooms, floors, and corners throughout the whole year.

Carlota Lagido will be back in February, with a new curatorial proposal for the cycle of **Exhibitions** _cérebro, olhos, mãos e papel_, taking place during the year at the EVC’s foyer. In this context, we will welcome projects by dance artists with a connection to the visual arts, such as Flávio Rodrigues, Miguel Bonneville, and Ana Caetano.

Throughout the year, we will once again host dance artists as part of our **Artist Residencies** Program, as well as artists or artist collectives participating in dance festivals as part of our **In Transit** Program. Daily and complementary practice for dance professionals will also take place over the course of the year, under Tiago Martins, in April, as part of the **EVC Training** Program, and under Pedro Ramos and João Cardoso, in September, after the summer period, as part of the **Kick-Off ’25** Program.

With International Dance Day comes the **Dancing the World** Program in partnership with Observatório do Mundo Islâmico (Islamic World Observatory), which brings us different dances practiced in social meetings. It is a space to learn about — and dance to the rhythm of — other cultures with which we have always interacted. 

Now in its eighth edition, we return to the **Territory** Program, a career launch program for young dancers from dance schools across the country. This year, we are presented with a new creation by choreographer Nadav Zelner and a new piece by choreographer Marco Goecke. As a result of the partnership between the EVC and the Nederlands Dans Theater, Territory will be entering a new cycle, featuring artistic development programs and providing young dancers with a multidisciplinary experience. In 2025, we are also launching similar programs in partnership with Companhia Nacional de Bailado, thus establishing a networking platform between renowned institutions and aspiring young artists.

On this journey of revisiting the past and seeing it through a different worldview, we host the seventh edition of **Meetings for the Future** in October, featuring Joana Craveiro's Performative Conference _Que bem posso escusar trazer escrito em papel o que na alma andar devia_, about that argonaut called Luís de Camões. This edition will be part of a cycle of activities in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Camões’ birth.

During the last trimester of 2025, we will host **Words and Practices**, a program about the action behind a gesture of transmission and reflection. In this first edition, we welcome choreographer and dancer Marco da Silva Ferreira. Over the course of one day structured with both a practical and a theoretical component, participants will have the opportunity to experience creative processes, bringing the artistic community and the general public closer together. In partnership with the National Arts Plan (PNA), we are also launching the initiative **Artist-in-Residence**, bringing to public schools two choreographers who participated in the Young Composers Program in 2024: Beatriz Valentim and Joana Franco. 

Finally, the **PALOP 25** Program is organized around two main axes. The first one comprises artist residencies, training, and project development in a new collaboration with Ordem do Ó, and is aimed at dance artists from Guinea-Bissau. The second comprises meetings and project development in collaboration with artist David Marques, and is aimed at choreographers from Mozambique. With this program, we extend the series of collaborations we have had since 2020 with Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa.

Grateful to all our partners and to everyone who will join us here at the EVC throughout the year, I conclude with the same words from 2024:

_We launch this season knowing that the path can shape our intentions, making it more suited to the needs of those who can benefit from it. And while it is true that not all projects will reach the point where we initially imagined them, when driven by a creative and conciliatory spirit they will certainly bring about change._

This is where we propose to meet: on the ground we walk on.

Rui Lopes Graça,
February 2025

2025 SEASON ⏤ On the ground we walk on

Proposed by the National Arts Plan (PNA), this year’s program has the partnership of the EVC. Together, they will bring to two public schools in Lisbon and in Porto two choreographers who participated in the Young Composers Program in 2024: Beatriz Valentim and Joana Franco. Over the course of three months, both choreographers will develop projects within the school community, giving students the possibility to experience the creative look from the world of dance. The initiative will be accompanied by filmmaker João Sanchez, who will create a film based on the program’s activities.

Artist-in-Residence ⏤ PNA

###### <u>Daily practice for professionals</u>

Daily classical and contemporary dance practice designed for professional dancers or those in the process of becoming professional dancers. The diversity of the invited teachers’ proposals aims to mirror our approach to what can constitute a dance practice today. 

###### Classical dance
Mon / Wed / Fri: 10:00 to 11:15 a.m.

###### Contemporary dance
Tue / Thu: 10:00 to 11:15 a.m.

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

###### <u>Classical dance classes for adults</u>

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

###### Classical dance
Mon / Wed: 6:30 to 20:00 p.m.

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

Classical ballet 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 ⏤ March

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

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

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

Daily Classes ⎯ March

Dance Classes in Studio 1

With the aim of bringing the migrant communities residing in Portugal into institutional spaces, we launch the first edition of the **Dancing the World** program, which brings to the EVC dances shared in social meetings, from different cultures and traditions. Open to everyone, the initiative meets one of this season’s main objectives, namely, that of integrating communities in moments of sharing and interaction.

The first action will take place on International Dance Day, April 29th, and it is organized in partnership with ACV - Associação Caboverdeana.

Dancing the World

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

### Drawings | Self-portraits

_In the first stage of the creative process, as happened in earlier projects, I come across materials as I walk or wander about. On these exploratory paths, materials stand out—cards, sheets of paper, paint, pens, and other materials thrown in the garbage or left outside shops and warehouses. They are assembled as fragments of a urban landscape that is visible, yet often overlooked, marginalized, or deemed undesirable._

_These materials constitute the basis for creation. For sketching, I use two pencils that I got from my father, whose trade is joinery. It’s the traditional red, rectangular-shaped pencil, widely used in workshops and construction, known as carpenter pencil. In my creative process, I also handled a sewing machine, reusing threads and other materials, like paint or pens, also found at the joiner’s workshop or among discarded things. Once in my room, my most intimate space, the sketches prompt reflection on self-representation. Here, I see my body inscribed on the lines and shapes. Physical presence reveals itself not only in action or in a gesture, but also in the traces beyond the body’s own outlines. Each drawing thus materializes as both a source and an extension of that presence, a certain way of capturing it that oscillates between corporeality and its absence—resting in an “in-between”. A naked body, laid bare. Finally, I draw a continuous, uninterrupted line to logically connect all these elements to one another. This stroke is constantly unfolding, as if flowing rhythmically, pulsating. The line, even though it must eventually come to an end and break, reveals in its path a potentially infinite circularity, one that redefines itself at each turn—a tension between permanence and transformation._ — Flávio Rodrigues

### Cérebro, olhos, mãos e papel
[“Brain, eyes, hands and paper”]


_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

Drawings | Self-portraits — Flávio Rodrigues

The entrance to the EVC building has become an exhibition space, welcoming proposals on an ongoing basis by visual artists whose work has a connection to performing arts in general and dance in particular. This year, we welcome a curatorial idea by choreographer Carlota Lagido, who invited three dance artists who have a strong connection to the visual arts -  Luís Guerra, João Galante and Elizabete Francisca.


### _brain, eyes, hands and paper_
##### Curated by Carlota Lagido

_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. Luís Guerra, João Galante and Elizabete Francisca are some of these people. 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._ ― Carlota Lagido


Exhibition space

Exhibitions — 2025

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_ ["Within Arm’s Reach"], 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. Later, in June, during the Popular Saints’ Festivals, we will organize an event with an **installation** now in plain view, and we will share with you the results of a **research laboratory** focused on various performative devices and/or materials from some of our performances._

_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 are in residence at the EVC with the project _À distância de um braço_ ["Within arm's reach"] as part of the At Home Program. With this project, which had been shelved for at least three years and is now finally resumed through a partnership with Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, the artists 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”.

À distância de um braço — Sofia & Vítor

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).



At Home ⏤ Marlene Monteiro Freitas

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 ⏤ Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz

Through the In Transit Program, the EVC establish partnerships with various festivals that play a fundamental role in promoting artistic creation and the access to the performing arts in Portugal. By maintaining a continuous collaboration with the partner festivals, the EVC contribute to establishing them as spaces for creation, mediation, promotion, and internationalization of the arts, as well as to the movements of social transformation driven by the topics highlighted in their respective programs.

In Transit also encourages partner institutions to develop some of their dance projects in collaboration with the EVC.


The EVC welcome Bárbara Cordeiro with "Estado de graça", a project to be presented as part of the 2025 Biennial Performative Arts Meeting – (Re)union. Organized by Rede More Cultural Association, this is one of our partner festivals as part of this year's In Transit Program.

_The expression "estado de graça" ["state of grace"] refers to someone who has gained another person's favor, and can also be used to describe the suppression of certain "negative" personality traits. This research is an attempt to contextualize the different characters within us, considering not only what they bring but also the narratives we construct when all we can see is a single frame._ — Bárbara Cordeiro

Estado de Graça — Bárbara Cordeiro

_In Transit_ establishes connections with numerous festivals that have a preponderant and essential role for the future of dance in Portugal. Through this program, EVC supports artistic practices in a continuous collaboration with partner festivals and contributes to their consolidation as spaces for artistic creation, mediation, promotion and internationalization. 

The program also invites structures that promote dance initiatives to develop some of their activities in collaboration with EVC. 


In Transit 2023

Through the _In Transit_ Program, the EVC establish partnerships with numerous festivals that play a fundamental role in promoting artistic creation and the access to the performing arts in Portugal. By maintaining a continuous collaboration with the partner festivals, we contribute to their strengthening as spaces for creation, mediation, promotion and internationalization of the arts, as well as to the movements of social transformation driven by the topics highlighted in their respective programmes. 

_In Transit_ also encourages partner institutions to develop some of their dance projects in collaboration with the EVC.


In Transit 2024

In Transit — 2025

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.

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)

Conference ⏤ Meetings for the Future IV

**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

Meetings for the Future VII 

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.

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


KICK OFF’22 

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

Kick Off ’25

In its eighth edition, the Young Composers Program continues to promote a collaborative spirit and to foster interactions among artists in creation processes. This time, it focuses on the artistic areas of composition, writing, and choreography. 

In addition to the main featured areas in this year’s edition, the EVC have hosted quite a few artists from other creative areas. Countless collaborations have emerged from this between participants, who have initiated joint projects beyond the context of the program and established their own professional careers.

Another countless number of partnerships and collaborations have been established with higher education institutions and groups of early career professionals, such as Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Escola Superior de Dança, Escola Superior de Artes e Design das Caldas da Rainha, Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo do Porto, the Concrète [Lab] Ensemble, and Ar.Co — Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual.

###### Weeks I and II

Stephen Plaice and Marcia Bellamy will both work with Luís Tinoco, co-coordinating the two first weeks of the project. During these weeks, work will be centered on creating music and text for music theater / stage music. Stephen and Marcia will be working primarily with our three guest writers, directing the writing workshop from which will come out the texts to be adapted for the “stage” by our three guest composers. Besides supervising the creative work, they will lecture on dramaturgy, taking examples from their own works.

All coordinators will also collaborate with the participating musicians, helping them develop working methods with the authors (composers and writers) and encouraging them to engage in the creative processes. As a mezzo-soprano singer and librettist with extensive experience in the field of performance, Marcia will additionally work with the participating singers and actors, guiding their work throughout these two weeks of creation.

At the end of Week II, a public presentation of results will be held.

&nbsp;

**main program coordinator** | Luís Tinoco

**coordinators (weeks I and II)** | Marcia Belamy e Stephen Plaice

**composers** | Afonso Nogueira, Luís Oliveira, Mariana Dionisio

**writers** | Júlia Durand, João Esteves da Silva, Gustavo Colombini

**in partnership with** | Escola Superior de Dança, Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa e Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo


Young Composers — Weeks I and II

This program promotes the collaborative spirit and enhances collaborations between composers and artists from other areas in the creative process. _Young Composers_ develops in three moments of experimentation and creation that culminate with a presentation of the materials created throughout the process.

In previous editions, artists such as Joana Craveiro, the duo Inês Barahona and Miguel Fragata, or writers such as Gonçalo M. Tavares have collaborated on the program. 

In 2023, _Young Composers_ will be coordinated by composer Luís Tinoco, with the collaboration of choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes, visual artist João Penalva and the Concrete [Lab] Ensemble, and the participation of students from Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML), Escola Superior de Dança (ESD), Escola Superior de Artes e Design (ESAD.CR) and Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE).



Young Composers 2023

Now in its seventh edition, the Young Composers Program continues to promote a collaborative spirit and foster interactions between artists in creative processes, this time focusing on Music Composition, Writing and Choreography.

Throughout its existence, several composers, choreographers, writers, visual artists, directors, stage directors, instrumentalists, singers, dancers and actors/actresses have participated in the program. From here, many other collaborations have emerged between these artists, who, outside the context of the program, have started joint projects and consolidated their own professional careers.

Since the first edition of Young Composers, the program has developed a number of partnerships and collaborations with higher education institutions and groups of professionals at the start of their careers, including Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Escola Superior de Dança, Escola Superior de Artes e Design das Caldas da Rainha, Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo do Porto, the Concrète [Lab] Ensemble and Ar.Co - Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual.


Young Composers - 2024

Young Composers — 2025

###### 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)

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.

Support for Auditions

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

Other Supports

_Other Worlds_ is a program dedicated to the representation of migrant communities residing in Portugal in new dance creations. Despite the geographical proximity, immigrant communities often remain on the margin of the local community, which, due to this isolation, makes them potential focal points of exclusion and targets of social prejudice. By making present in institutional spaces the diverse cultures that weave our identity as a society, we can actively contribute to the deconstruction of narratives that dehumanize the other, often making them the target of our shortcomings as a collective.

Throughout its duration, the program, which will cyclically select a target country, aims to draw attention to this country's culture through the perspective of an artist in the field of dance. In this first edition, the focus is on Iran and Iranian culture, under the direction of choreographer Clara Andermatt. The piece was created throughout 2024, and its premiere was on January 31 and February 1, 2025, at Teatro Camões, to be followed by other public performances.

Included in the program is the IR ÀS ESCOLAS ["Visiting Schools"] initiative, which aims to make the culture and realities experienced by Iranian people known to young school communities in Portugal through talks and short performances.

Sensorianas will premiere **on January 31, at 8pm, and on February 1, 6:30pm, at Teatro Camões**, in Lisbon.

###### Tickets on sale at [bol.pt](https://www.bol.pt/Comprar/Bilhetes/150094-sensorianas_de_clara_andermatt_accca-t_camoes_e_victor_cordon/)

###### SYNOPSIS

_"I was invited by Estúdios Victor Córdon to explore Iran and its culture through the creation of a piece to be presented within the framework of the OUTROS MUNDOS program. I approached the invitation as a challenge to connect with Persian culture, allowing me to explore and celebrate its richness._

_I want the piece to combine charm and contemplation based on an artistic experience anchored in the contributions of the Iranian diaspora rooted in our country. I aim to pave the thematic path of the piece by compiling individual visions carrying references, suggestions, and avenues for study._
_
I intend to explore different styles of traditional Iranian dance, reinterpreted by myself and the collaborators of this creation in light of contemporary dance. The focus is on the female universe, with Iranian poetry and music, among other elements, serving as integrative and inspiring components._

_I do not seek to encompass the vastness of Persian culture, nor do I have any pretension to represent it—an impossible and undesirable task for someone approaching a vast and complex reality for the first time. I propose a subjective, animated vision fuelled by the desire to promote encounters and build cultural bridges. A curious and interested gaze toward a reality very different from our own. A space for dialogue and reflection on aspects of everyday life, freedom, and the cultural diversity that we must defend and celebrate in the current global context."_

— Clara Andermatt

###### CREDITS
- Artistic Direction | CLARA ANDERMATT
- Performance and Creative Collaboration | BEATRIZ VALENTIM, HELIA BANDEH, LEONOR ALECRIM, MARIA FONSECA, RITA CARPINTEIRO
- Art Consultant | HELIA BANDEH
- Musical Direction | JOÃO LUCAS E CLARA ANDERMATT
- Artistic Assistance and Research | MARGARIDA BAK GORDON
- Creation Support | AMÉLIA BENTES, FÉLIX LOZANO
- Support for Dramaturgy | JOÃO LUCAS
- Lighting Design and Operation | WILMA MOUTINHO
- Set Design | ERIC DA COSTA
- Costume Design | JOSÉ ANTÓNIO TENENTE
- Helia Bandeh's Selection of Costumes created by | HELIA DANCEWEAR
- Costume Design Assistant | RITA MONIZ PEREIRA
- Mirrors | GOLSHAN CHAHIAN
- Sound Design and Operation | RICARDO FIGUEIREDO
- Scenic Space Construction | JOSÉ PEDRO SOUSA
- Executive Production | ACCCA — MIGUEL PEREIRA, RUANA CAROLINA
- Communication Partnership | ANTENA 2, COFFEEPASTE

###### OUTROS MUNDOS, a ESTÚDIOS VICTOR CÓRDON program
- Co-production | OPART / ESTÚDIOS VICTOR CÓRDON, A OFICINA / CCVF
- Residency support | OPART / ESTÚDIOS VICTOR CÓRDON
- Support | REPÚBLICA PORTUGUESA — CULTURA / DIREÇÃO-GERAL DAS ARTES, CÂMARA MUNICIPAL DE LISBOA, INTERPRESS HUB CRIATIVO DO BAIRRO ALTO
- Partnership | PLANO NACIONAL DAS ARTES - INICIATIVA IR À ESCOLA

- Special Thanks | JOÃO BICHÃO,  JOÃO HENRIQUES (Observatório do Mundo Islâmico),  MARTINHO VILLANI, RITA FONTES, SEPIDEH RADFAR, TEATRO DO BAIRRO

- A special thank you to all the Iranian people or people of Iranian origin who told us about themselves, their culture and their country | AIDA SIGHARIAN, GOLSHAN CHAHIAN, HODA MADAD, ISMAIL BOALI, MARYAM SHAMS, MEHRNOOSH AFSHARI, NAHID SANGANIAN, NIKDEL FARHAD, OMID BAHRAMI, RAHMAN HAGHIGHI, REBECCA MORADALIZADEH, ROHAM TORABI, ROUZBEH AKHBARI, SEPIDEH RADFAR, SINA SHIRAZI, SOMAYEH GHOLAMI, VAHID RASOULI

Sensorianas — Premiere at Teatro Camões

Other Worlds ⏤ Iran

In this new EVC Program, we aim to bring the general public and dance artists closer together. Over the course of one day structured with both a practical and a theoretical component, participants will have the opportunity to experience creative processes and what they are based on, thus helping create or deepen readings of the invited artist’s own works and proposals. In this first edition of the program, we welcome choreographer and dancer Marco da Silva Ferreira. He began his body practice in 1996 through sports, specifically through high-performance swimming. In 2022, he abandoned sports in favor of body practices in the context of the performing arts. He is a self-taught dancer, having practiced urban dance styles with African-American influence.


Words and Practices

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_
&nbsp;
- **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_ 
&nbsp;
- **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.

Artist residencies network that promotes works by artists from Portuguese-speaking countries and their circulation between Africa and Portugal. The artists taking part in the first edition come from Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, Cape Verde and Portugal.

Over the course of 5 weeks, these artists will develop collaborative work in the several artist residencies taking place in the cities of Lisbon, Porto, Viseu and Guimarães. The program also includes showcases presenting the work developed in each residency, talks, dance workshops taught by the guest artists, where they'll share dances from their countries of origin, and interactions with local artists. This year’s edition of the program wraps up in Maputo with a final public presentation.


This initiative is supported by Direção-Geral das Artes.

Network of Artist Residencies in the Portuguese-speaking African countries

PALOP — 2025 

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 cycle 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**

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.





Season Partners 2023

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

Season Partners ⏤ 2025

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 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 2022

_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 — 2025

With the aim of supporting independent artistic creation, this program hosts artists and collectives working in the field of dance or in areas of artistic intersection, both national and international, for a maximum period of two weeks.

Applications are accepted continuously throughout the year, and residencies are scheduled in our calendar on a first-come, first-served basis. Since their beginnings, the EVC have been a space where multiple languages coexist, directly meeting the needs of the artistic community.

Over the course of two weeks, we welcome artist-in-residence Connor Scott with _Cat-Gut Jim_, a work performed in ancestral drag which invokes the immaterial presence of Edward Corvan, a renowned violinist and folk artist from Tyneside (1831). Connor appropriates E. Corvan’s archive for a ceremonial performative moment, creating space for a single-body duet while simultaneously summoning the ghosts of his own dance.

Cat-Gut Jim — Connor Scott

_"Meditating on death is meditating on liberty. (...) There is nothing evil in life for him who rightly comprehends that the privation of life is no evil."_ — Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I, XX

&nbsp;

_"In a time when wars make death even more present, what is our relationship with it, both psychologically and geographically? How do we relate to this reality on an individual and collective level? What is our responsibility, and how prepared are we? It is important to address this topic and to entertain new ways of engaging with death. Some cultures celebrate death, while in others it remains a taboo. Generally speaking, throughout history, human beings have sought to delay their approach to the end. But life has a natural limit, and new generations must come. How can we create a dance of coexistence between the living and the dead and their countless beliefs?_

_It is impossible to approach this topic without speaking of time and breathing. The first thing we do when we are born is inhale, and the last is exhale. This aspect will be explored in this piece, and it will be developed in collaboration with Winga Khan. How can we face and take care of this fundamental aspect of life, its final act, in a way that helps us build a more responsible and advanced society? It is time to cultivate beauty, even in the ritual of death."_ — Maria Fonseca

ATA — Maria Fonseca

In their first creative collaboration, Henrique Furtado Vieira and Lígia Soares will be studying, reproducing, and reinventing artistic forms that arise from collapsing systems, in order to create a collection of performances based on the historical relation between crises and the emergence of artistic avant-garde movements. With _Morrer pelos passarinhos_ [“To Die For the Little Birds”], they aim to find meaningful ways of sharing with the audience the end of the world as we have come to know it and to remind that, together, we can express “meaninglessness”, a human being torn apart by the world’s lack of order, just as it was expressed in the grief of past generations. Thus, the project challenges our unquestioning acceptance of this world’s continuous deterioration through a collection of funeral rites—a kind of collective grief that may confront us with emptiness, fear, dehumanization, and, most importantly, with one another.

Morrer pelos passarinhos — Henrique F. Vieira e Lígia Soares

Sofia Brito and a team of artists-mothers create _Artista-Mãe_ with the aim of questioning the complex relationship between motherhood, patriarchy, and capitalism, exploring how these forces shape and challenge the experience of artists-mothers in modern society.

Artista-Mãe — Sofia Brito

_King Size_ analyzes how masculinity is constructed with the aim of resignifying the relationships between nature, gender, and sex, focusing on figures that embody myths of masculinity, as well as on their parodic revisions, thus staging a game of disidentification that resists the pressures of sexual binarism in both society and art. _King Size_ confronts the creative and dramaturgical devices of contemporary drag performances with the rigid gender representation codes of traditional dance and theater, questioning these codes and blurring the differences between what is natural and what is a cultural or stage construct.

King Size — Sónia Baptista

This program supports independent artistic creation, welcoming Portuguese and international dance artists and creators from other artistic areas, for a maximum period of two weeks. Since its inception, EVC is a space of cohabitation of multiple languages, acting in direct response to the needs of the artistic community.


Artist Residencies 2023

With the aim of supporting independent artistic creation, this program welcomes creators in the field of dance and other areas of artistic intersection, at national and international level, for a maximum period of two weeks.

Applications are accepted continuously and residencies are scheduled in our calendar on a first-come, first-served basis. Since their beginnings, the EVC have been a space where multiple languages coexist, responding in direct proportion to the needs of the artistic community.

Artist Residencies 2024

Artist Residencies — 2025

The Photography Artist Residency Program provides a support space for photographers who want to deepen their language in the context of the performing arts and particularly in dance. Given the specificity of a photography program, the EVC provide the perfect setting, with a wide range of activities that are very enriching for participants in this initiative. Throughout the residency, photographers have the opportunity to propose images of artists or activities they captured to the EVC team through our communication channels, in a process of constructing discourse and promoting their work.

Between 2024 and 2025, we are showing an exhibition by Guilherme Gouveia, titled “Sobre o Estúdio 1”, which presents the result of the photography residency he undertook at the EVC in 2023.

This year, we welcome Estelle Valente, who proposes to explore the poetic movement of dance in author photography in her project _Faire Danser l’image_.

_How can we create a direct connection between photography and dance? How can we include the movement of dance in photography in a different way? How can we transcribe movement poetically? All this will be the starting point for my research in this residency. The idea is to develop my creativity and experiment with new techniques or concepts around movement photography, pushing my artistic limits. Poetry, either visual or written, will be at the center of my approach all the time._ — Estelle Valente

In this residencies program dedicated specifically to photography, EVC welcomes artists working in this field who are interested in performing arts and seek to capture movement through their medium of choice. In residency for a set period of time, each photographer is given the freedom to capture whatever they wish when they wish, in order to encourage as much as possible the relationship of these artists with the continuous flux and activities happening at EVC.

Aiming to value photography as an art form, but also to take it into consideration, in a freer and more comprehensive way, as a form of expression and communication, these residencies provide a space of freedom to experiment and develop one's own artistic eye. While the artist in residence challenges themselves and engages in authorial work, they are exposed to the performing arts in constant ebullition at the EVC and to the various movement and dance projects that are developed there. This constitutes a unique and significant way of learning about these arts, their characteristics and their own processes. Facing the stage, the photographer has a very unique role, where they will have to deal with challenges such as lighting, scenic space, rehearsals, and - equally essential - how to communicate with the performers.

Photography Residency Program 2023

The Photography Artist Residency program provides a space for photographers who want to deepen their language in the performing arts and particularly in dance. Given the specificity of a photography program, the EVC provide the perfect setting, with a wide range of activities that are very enriching for participants in this initiative. Throughout the residency, photographers have the opportunity to propose images to the EVC team and to the artists being photographed through our communication channels, in a process of constructing discourse and promoting their work.

Between 2024 and 2025 we will welcome an exhibition by Guilherme Gouveia, titled "Sobre o Estúdio 1" that will show us the result of the photography residency he undertook at the EVC in 2023.

Photography Residency Program

Photography Residencies ⏤ Estelle Valente

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.

The EVC Training Program is a complementary intensive training program for dance artists that gives them the opportunity to get acquainted with the fundamental languages of contemporary dance worldwide. This year, we welcome Tiago Martins, who will introduce us to Movement practice. The fundamental basis of this 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.

###### Target audience
Dance artists

###### Price: 200€

###### GDA Scholarships available

###### Insurance required

Complementary Training | EVC TRAINING 2025 — Registration

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

###### Target Audience
Dance professionals



EVC Training 2022

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

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 — 2025

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.

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.



Territory VI

_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. 


Programs