2026

While it is true that the activities of then-named Estúdios Victor Córdon — Centro Educativo, Comunitário e Criativo da Companhia Nacional de Bailado e do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (the “Education, Community and Creativity Center of the National Ballet of Portugal and of Teatro Nacional de São Carlos”) began in September 2016, it was only in 2017 that the format was established from which the defining concept and mission of the creative platform Estúdios Victor Córdon originated.

Without detracting from this initial gesture in 2016, it was in 2017 that the project we now know truly started. For this reason, the Estúdios Victor Córdon (EVC)’s tenth-anniversary commemoration will begin in 2026, but a full celebration will take place only in 2027.

Present times challenge us to anticipate and promote positions that may strengthen the art scene in its various aspects and needs.

They also challenge us to create strong roots, anchored in real society, in contradistinction to the image that appears before us and foreshadows the degradation of an ethical basis, of respect for and solidarity with others — an image whose features already herald a new paradigm.

Dance is a living organism, one that should be porous and in perfect symbiotic interaction with an ecosystem that goes beyond its own community of creators and performers; ideally, it should breathe within an ever-changing society and respond to its stimuli, immersing itself in it and trying to meet its contradictory drives.

In this constant exchange, formats and norms are broken down which merely serve knowledge as tools to conceive new ways of seeing and of creating the future. It is in this fundamental gesture that we can determine the place of each institution, defining its mission — that is: defining what it serves and whom it serves.

This is the moment to take action, bringing people closer to the art world, contributing to the cultivation and enjoyment of all.

We want to move forward on this path with each program and initiative; we want to act, bringing the idea of an ever-shifting future to life, while still maintaining our direction and position unequivocal. 

After the astounding results achieved in the 2025 edition, the **Young Composers** Program will once again involve the artistic areas of composition, writing, and choreography. In a program that aims to promote a collaborative spirit in creation and experimentation processes, composer **Luís Tinoco**, the program’s regular coordinator, is once again joined by last edition’s three co-coordinators — librettist and mezzo-soprano **Marcia Bellamy**, playwright **Stephen Plaice**, and choreographer **Victor Hugo Pontes**.

Throughout the year of 2026, the **At Home** Program brings us **Daniel Matos**, who will be sharing with us a series of initiatives along the lines of what has characterized his unique career. Choreographer **Cláudia Dias** will also be present throughout the year as our **Season Partner**, sharing with us many of the initiatives she developed with the cultural association Sete Anos.

The EVC’s Foyer will continue to be a meeting place for dance artists with a connection to the visual arts and for photographers whose work is focused on dance. In February, we will hold an exhibition by **Estelle Valente**, as part of her 2025 photography artist residency, followed by “_Arte Mágica_”, a series of **Exhibitions** curated by **Luís Guerra** and dedicated to outsider art, in partnership with **Dançando com a Diferença** on its 25th anniversary.

Over the course of the year, we will once again welcome dance artists in **Artist Residencies**, as well as collectives participating in dance festivals as part of our **In Transit** Program. In addition to these, other artist residencies will take place as part of our **First Stage** Program, specifically designed for young artists who have recently graduated from higher education institutions or equivalent.

Daily and complementary practices for dance professionals will also extend throughout the year — under the instruction of **João Cardoso** in April, as part of the **EVC Training** Program, and under the instruction of **Lander Patrick** in the beginning of September, as part of the **Kick-Off ’26** Program.

On International Dance Day, we will be **Dancing the World** once more, thus consolidating our intention of being a place for all dances. We will open Estúdio 1 and dance and celebrate to the rhythms of other cultures with whom we have always engaged.

In June begins the 9th edition of the **Territory** Program, which welcomes choreographer **Wayne McGregor** with a restaging of “_FAR_” (excerpt), choreographer **Liliana Barros** with a new creation, and film director **Filipe Faria**, winner of the Territory | Estúdios Victor Córdon Award for Best Portuguese Director at the 2025 edition of the InShadow — Lisbon Screendance Festival. This program provides young dancers from dance schools across the country an experience to complement their training. As a career launch program, it has already featured the participation of around a hundred dancers and promotes career development internships in partnership with the **Nederlands Dans Theater NDT 2** and the **National Ballet Company**.

In the last trimester, the EVC’s tenth-anniversary celebrations begin. We will mark this moment symbolically with the **Other Worlds** Program, which will run until the end of the year and cross into 2027. With rehearsals beginning in November,** Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz** will present a new performance focused on **Afghanistan**, which is scheduled to premiere in the end of January at Teatro Camões, in Lisbon, and will be followed by a national tour.

In October, we will host another set of **Meetings for the Future**. This eighth edition features **David Marques** and **Teresa Silva**’s “_Fazer falar o fazer_” (“Making the making speak”) in the format of a performative conference exploring the art scene of Mozambique in dialogue with Portugal. For another season, we celebrate a partnership with **Camões Institute** – Portuguese Cultural Centre in Maputo.

Following the activities consistently organized throughout the years as part of various programs designed for the arts community in Lusophone Africa, the EVC and **Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian** will be joining forces to launch a **Collaborative Creation Residency** under the coordination and artistic mentorship of **Marlene Monteiro Freitas**. Taking place in October, this initiative aims to promote the work of creators from Lusophone Africa among programmers and cultural agents in general, thus expanding the former’s network of circulation and collaboration opportunities through the European artistic context.

In the last months of 2026, we will resume the **Words and Practices** Program. Its second edition will feature choreographer **Tânia Carvalho**, who will spend a day — structured into a practical part and a theoretical part — giving participants a chance to experience her creation processes.

Lastly, the **Resident Artist Project**, organized in partnership with **Plano Nacional das Artes** (the National Plan for the Arts), is launching its second edition by bringing choreographers **Joana Franco** and **Maria Abrantes** to public schools, for an engagement with the school community, where students will be given the possibility to experience the creative perspective of dance artists.

Since their inception, program by program, the EVC have served as a safe space for performers and creators from the independent art scene with the most diverse backgrounds. Each new season, we have sought to meet the needs we encountered over time. The will to create of the different performers and creators, either emerging or established, the continuous relationship with the Portuguese-speaking African countries, and the engagement with movement practices from the various cultural communities residing in Portugal constitute the fundamental material that shapes this **2026 Season**.

I express my deepest gratitude to all the partners who have stood by us wholeheartedly, each contributing in their own way. This is a journey guided by an inclusive and humanistic view, stronger and richer in feeling when undertaken together; it is a perspective that we wish to enshrine permanently in this place — where everyone fits in.

Rui Lopes Graça


2026 SEASON - Where Everyone Fits In

At Home is a program designed for creators working in the field of dance, inviting them into the EVC to develop their work over the course of a season. Having welcomed Miguel Moreira, João dos Santos Martins, Jonas & Lander, Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Teresa Silva, Victor Hugo Pontes, and Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, we now invite Daniel Matos, who will be sharing with us a series of initiatives that characterize his unique career.

_Busting down the door, opening the windows, rummaging through drawers, scrubbing linoleum with your hands, licking banisters, falling backwards down the stairs, getting stuck in the lift, singing in the lift while you're stuck, taking hot showers in winter and cold showers in summer, shouting at the draughts and staring endlessly at the river._

_They welcome me HOME this year, and being at home, for me, means being alone - very alone - and accompanied - as accompanied as possible._

_I have always enjoyed being home alone, being able to play different music in each room, walking with the lights off and feeling my way through the corridors at night, finding comfort in the silence like a cosy blanket and, above all, having the space and time to think about what I do or try to do. That is why, throughout this year, I have been dedicating myself to two authorial projects that branch out into different ways of thinking and making possible dances: **A Luminosa Violência da Perfeição**, a large-scale stage creation that seeks to understand how to contemplate an absolute pause in the middle of a hurricane driven by horses and mares, and **PESO PESO PEITO**, an authorial publication in collaboration with artist João Catarino, which starts from the play Pedra, a Mágoa (The Stone, the Sorrow) and explores in book form the family relationships of the performers who were part of the processes of creating and presenting the show, delving into photographic and written landscapes of each person's intimacy, compiled in a physical archive collection._

_But being AT HOME also means welcoming people into your home and making it a space for sharing and socialising, for dinners filled with thoughts and ideas that don't fit inside living rooms. That is why I invite some of the artists I admire to share proposals and practices in this AT HOME, clearing the space, pushing the furniture against the wall and joining hands so that we can all feel butterflies in our stomachs together: from jams to music listening, from conversations around the table to a film session that can be a pyjama party, if we so desire._

_All this while always opening the door to anyone who wants to come in, take a peek, stay and leave. All this so that the occupation is as real as we are, who do not exist, if we want to.
Being a body at home in a house that is the body._

_It's so good to be AT HOME._

Daniel Matos


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

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

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

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

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

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

At Home ⏤ Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz

At Home ⏤ Daniel Matos

###### Daily practice for professionals

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)

###### Classical dance classes for adults

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.

No level of experience is required to participate in the Classical Dance Classes for Adults. The difficulty is adapted to each group of participants, with two levels available: Beginner (Mondays) and Continuing (Wednesday).

###### 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. No level of experience is required to participate. The difficulty is adapted to each group of participants, with two levels available: Beginner (Mondays) and Continuing (Wednesday).

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

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

(c) Alejandro Coutinho | EVC 25

Dance Classes for Adults — January

Our daily practice classes are designed for professional dancers or those in the process of becoming professional dancers; prior knowledge and experience of the classical and contemporary dance vocabulary is therefore expected.

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

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

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

(c) Estelle Valente | EVC 25

Daily Practice ⎯ January

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

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

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

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


Dance Classes ⏤ Professionals

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


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

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

Dance Classes ⏤ Adults

###### Daily practice for professionals

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)

###### Classical dance classes for adults

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)

Dance Classes at Estúdio 1

Dance Classes at Estúdio 1 — 2026

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.


_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

In Transit — 2026

With the aim of inviting the migrant communities residing in Portugal into institutional spaces, we return with the second 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.

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 initiative will take place on International Dance Day, April 29th, and it is organized in collaboration with ACV - Associação Caboverdeana.

Dancing the World

Dancing the World — 2026

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. The 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.

### _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 stimulates the practice of a playful body, one that enjoys moving energetically. The practice itself begins with shared or individual “body reset” moments, whether through breathing exercises, by exploring fatigue or by improvising from points of contact. On the one hand, the practice evolves into movement research patterns, focusing on touch as a tool to awaken forgotten parts of the body. On the other hand, it is developed through a set of floorwork techniques, bringing awareness to transitions between horizontal and vertical settings and challenging the concept of a “collective mind”. Sprinkled with touches of expressive drama, this practice is an invitation to participants to develop bodies and minds that are capable, gentle, humble, curious, aware, and intimately connected to the sheer pleasure of dancing and moving.

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

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

## EVC TRAINING

A complementary intensive training program for dance artists that gives them the opportunity to get acquainted with the fundamental languages of contemporary dance worldwide.

#### Movement Practice with Tiago Martins

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

EVC Training — 2025

EVC Training — 2026

In previous editions of the Meetings for the Future Program, various themes and formats have already been explored. In this edition, we go back to the performative conference format with the aim of fostering thought, speech, and practice, promoting meetings between artists, and between artists and the public. The focus will be on the art scene of Mozambique in dialogue with Portugal, with dancers from Mozambique and Portugal being featured in a new edition of David Marques and Teresa Silva’s _Fazer falar o fazer_ (“Making the making speak”), a project presented in 2024 as part of the At Home Program with Teresa Silva.

_“Throughout our careers, we have felt a lack of occasions that encourage reflection and speech about artistic practice, and we have noticed how scarce the records are which can document what artists like us are doing and make it more lasting and geographically widespread._ Fazer falar o fazer _thus arises from the will to let the work of our generation claim a place of its own, and from the desire to bring the community together around the issues that move and engage us in our artistic practice, which we believe to be a source of fundamental knowledge. In this context, we have been developing various devices that encourage thinking, speaking, and listening, and which provide the meeting between artists and between artists and the public.”_

Teresa Silva and David Marques


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meetings for the Future VI

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

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

**created and authored by** Joana Craveiro

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

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

Teatro do Vestido is a structure supported by República Portuguesa - Cultura, Juventude e Desporto | DGARTES.

Meetings for the Future VII 

Meetings for the Future VIII

Now in its ninth edition and, as usual, with the coordination of Luís Tinoco, the Young Composers Program continues to promote a collaborative spirit and to foster interactions among artists in creation processes. Composition, writing, and choreography will be the three artistic areas in focus.

Throughout its various editions, this program has welcomed countless artists to the EVC from the three areas featured in this year’s edition, as well as from several other creation fields, and many collaborations have emerged among these participants, who, beyond of the scope of the program, have initiated joint projects and consolidated their individual professional careers. Numerous partnerships and collaborations have also been established with higher education institutions and groups of early career professionals, among them 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.

In this edition, we welcome back Marcia Bellamy and Stephen Plaice as our program co-coordinators during Weeks I & II (Composers & Writers), and Victor Hugo Pontes as our program co-coordinator during Week III (Composers & Choreographers). As usual, the periods of creation and experimentation will be followed by two public presentations of results at the EVC, open to all audiences.

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

In its eighth edition and once again coordinated by Luís Tinoco, who was recently awarded the Pessoa Prize, 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 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.

In this edition, we welcome Marcia Bellamy and Stephen Plaice as co-coordinators during Weeks I and II (Composers & Writers) and Victor Hugo Pontes as co-coordinator during Week III (Composers & Choreographers). As usual, after a period of creation and experimentation, a public presentation of results will be held at the EVC, open to all audiences.

Young Composers — 2025

Young Composers — 2026

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 two editions curated by Carlota Lagido, during which we welcomed works by Luís Guerra, João Galante, Elizabete Francisca, Flávio Rodrigues, Miguel Bonneville and Ana Caetano, this year we hold _Arte Mágica_ (“Magical Art”), a third series of exhibitions curated by Luís Guerra in partnership with the dance company Dançando com a Diferença.

There are stories that begin quietly but become transformative along the way. Such was the case with Dançando com a Diferença, founded by Henrique Amoedo in 2001, in Madeira, as a pilot project which later became a benchmark in the contemporary dance scene, both nationally and internationally. Over the course of 25 years, the company has built a unique career, collaborating with renowned choreographers and developing new forms of interaction between performer, body and space.

In the context of the 2026 Exhibitions Program, the EVC and artist Luís Guerra challenge performers from this company with unique cognitive and physical characteristics to explore a process of visual creation starting from the concept of “outsider art” and evolving into “Magical Art”. In two different periods, works created by six to eight performers and characterized by unusual rhythmical choices and formal solutions, as well as by a profusion of visual elements, will be showing at the EVC’s Foyer. These works offer the public a sensory and reflective experience, transporting them to territories of the spirit rarely accessible through normative artistic practices, and reasserting both the singularity of the company’s work and the creative potential of each performer.

On the occasion of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of Dançando com a Diferença Association.

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

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

&nbsp;

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

Exhibitions — 2025

Exhibitions — 2026

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 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

First Stage — 2026

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. The 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 ’26

One-week program for dance professionals proposing intensive dance training at the "rentrée" right after summer holidays.

### _KICK IN_, with Lander Patrick

_“In this edition of the Kick Off Program, apart from visiting previous repertories, we will approach musicality as the spark that ignites gestures. As we study rhythms, melodies, dynamics, we will transfer this knowledge to our muscles, nerves, eyes and teeth, placing the body in a symphonic field. Bringing it together with other symphonic bodies, we will study interaction strategies — exercises that strengthen camaraderie and collective spirit, fundamental bases of my work. Let’s sweat together!”_ 

— Lander Patrick


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

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

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

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


###### Target Audience
Dance professionals

###### Price
220€

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

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

###### Limit of 20 participants

###### Personal accident insurance is required

KICK OFF'23 

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

###### Target Audience
Dance professionals

###### Price
220€

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

###### Online registration

###### Personal accident insurance is required








KICK OFF'24

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

### Kick Off ’25

_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.

_Sparkling Imagination_, with Horácio Macuacua

In this practice there is a highly physical work that demands attention and intensity rather than a certain level of technique, challenging each dancer to push the limits of their imagination and body expression to discover new possibilities.  The inflexibility of the established paralyzes the movement, dims the ingenuity, casts a shadow over surprise. But life force makes us adaptable, it gives us the opportunity to transform space and to translate energy into matter, matter into its own evolution. The outline of the spontaneous is blurred to disappear, the margins of the predictable are softened and we know the interrogation point that questions the automatic response. The body allows us to transcend. Let's dance.

Kick Off ’25

Kick Off ’26

###### 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.

###### Support for Auditions

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

###### Support for Dance Education Institutions

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

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

Other Supports

Other Supports — 2026

**MAR+
Collaborative Creation Residency EVC/FCG**

Extending a series of collaborations we have had since 2020 with Lusophone Africa (referred to in Portuguese by the acronym “PALOP”) and promoting creation and mobility of artists, a new partnership emerges in 2026 between the EVC and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (the Gulbenkian Foundation, FCG).

The Gulbenkian Foundation has also been supporting the arts in Lusophone Africa for many years. The Resident Artists’ Showcases, organized as part of the PROCULTURA PALOP-TL program in 2022, 2024 and 2025, marked an important occasion for the artists to demonstrate the evolution of their careers and creations.

It is in this context that the EVC and FCG will be joining forces to launch a Collaborative Creation Residency, coordinated by Marlene Monteiro Freitas. Six artists from Lusophone Africa will participate in the residency, which will take place between October 12 and 31 at the EVC. It will feature a presentation (also at the EVC) of work developed during this period to programmers, producers, and other cultural agents, and a conversation/moment of sharing between the artists and the public at CAM — Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, as part of the Live Art event.


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

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.

After an artistic intervention in which posters displaying questions were put up in the streets and various cultural spaces in Maputo and Mugangueni, in Macaneta, the project _Fazer falar o fazer_ ("Making the making speak") brings together different artists from Mozambique for a five-day meeting organized by David Marques. During this meeting, participants will be experimenting with free speech practices and some performative devices, designed for artistic work in dance.

This meeting anticipates a new edition of David Marques and Teresa Silva's project _Fazer falar o fazer_ with artists from Portugal and Mozambique, coming up in 2026.

This project is part of the EVC's program of activities, in partnership with Parca, Instituto Camões, Mugangueni, and Kinani — Festival Internacional de Dança Contemporânea de Moçambique (International Contemporary Dance Festival of Mozambique).

PALOP — 2025 

PALOP — 2026

Proposed by Plano Nacional das Artes (the National Plan for the Arts, PNA), this year’s edition of the Artist-in-Residence Project is once again co-organized by the EVC. Together, these partners will bring to two public schools in Lisbon two young choreographers, Joana Franco and Maria Abrantes. Over the course of three months, the choreographers will develop projects within the school community, giving students the possibility to experience the creative look from the world of dance. Filmmaker Alexia Fernandes will be accompanying the initiative, creating a film based on the program’s activities.

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 Project ⏤ PNA

Artist-in-Residence Project'26 ⏤ PNA

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.

**Sete Anos Associação - Cláudia Dias**

**The Gesture that Remains: Long-Term Writings**

_Throughout the 2026-2027 biennium, I will make Estúdios Victor Córdon (Victor Córdon Studios) my permanent home as a season partner. I bring with me Sete Anos (Seven Years Cultural Association) to, in this territory of duration, share tools, confront ideas, digging into the memory of the pieces I have constructed, and share new restlessness. 2026 will be organised around two work fronts:_

1. Memory and Action

_I invite you to enter my archive, not to repeat gestures, but to reactivate the questions that generated them. In these workshops, the focus is not on the inheritance of forms, but on the investigation of processes. Starting from creations from the cycles Sete Anos Sete Peças (Seven Years Seven Pieces) and A Coleção do Meu Pai (My Father's Collection), we will use the repertoire as raw material to investigate new possibilities for action. I am interested in understanding how your present body dialogues with the artistic and political memory that I have been building over the last few decades._

_This memory is also materialised in the book Raio de Vida! (Ray of Life!), which will be released at EVC. The work records photographer Alípio Padilha's view of my work, serving as the basis for a multi-layered reflection. In my case, the written reunion with my creations transports me to the reasons behind my artistic decisions; in the case of journalist Gonçalo Frota, a search for possible readings of these images isolated from the shows; and in the case of illustrator António Jorge Gonçalves, an intervention through the trace, establishing new dialogues with the images, extending them beyond the limits of the photographic camera. In a field where objects that preserve their memory are rare, this book defies the ephemeral, transforming the original creation into an ongoing conversation._

2. Necessary Talks 

_We bring to EVC the echo of the Festival Mulheres em Marcha (Marching Women Festival), whose shows and workshops take place in Seixal. We want to bridge this distance between banks and ensure that the questions raised by the festival resonate in other geographies. We invite voices from diverse areas to debate the role of women in contemporary creation, transforming this journey into a sounding box for artistic activism and collective resistance. It is an invitation for the city centre to listen to what the periphery has been marching for._

_We also propose a reflection on the relevance of the repertoire. We will question, with different voices and experiences, how this work can expand connections, generate new perspectives, promote empathy and critical thinking, analysing the interrelationships between memory and action in the construction of a collective heritage._

_My work has been and continues to be about ‘us.’ In 2026 and 2027, I hope you will join me so we can continue to build lasting gestures._

Cláudia Dias

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

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

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

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

### **Coffeepaste**

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

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

Season Partners ⏤ 2025

Season Partners — 2026

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.


This new show follows on from work developed around the idea of ‘The disappearance of the body’, a research project that has recently guided Mário Afonso's projects in “Framework” (2022), ‘vaziopleno’ (2023), and, in 2024, ended up giving its name to his master's thesis. This work involves organising materials around the appearance, encounter, and disappearance of the body, with the aim of integrating and reflecting on human relationships currently determined by extreme technological mediation. 

Ermo, a título provisório — Mário Afonso

_Bixa Bixo_ is an immersive show that is part of the Kalunga research project: For a black and queer ecology developed by Coletivo Afrontosas. With the aim of producing artistic knowledge, the show combines new technologies, dance and performance based on an ecocriticism that calls for a rethinking of what we call ‘nature’.

**Tony Omolu** – Hybrid theatre and dance artist, researcher of pre-expressive practices. 

**Diego Candido (DIDI)** – Transdisciplinary artist, DJ and researcher, focusing on (re)territorialisation, activism and Afro-diasporic culture in Portugal. 

**ROD** – Visual artist and researcher, postdoctoral researcher in Communication, PhD in Sociology. 



Bixa Bixo ― Coletivo Afrontosas

For the new piece for a young audience (aged 3+) _PAPUSI_ , which is set to premiere in November 2026, Jill Crovisier would like to explore the relationship between objects connected to the heritage of marionette craft and contemporary dance. 

In this contemporary puppetry / dance piece for two performers, the choreographer will develop a story inspired by a traditional tale, exploring the notions of transformation and diversity. 

From small finger puppets to three dimensional moving objects and human bodies, _PAPUSI_ offers a surprising encounter and gently remind us that everything has its own value and meaningful story simply by existing. 

Papusi ― Jill Crovisier

_Based on the ideas of fabulation and trans-corporeality as central concepts, the artistic practices I propose explore capacities of the body that we have forgotten, ignored or wish to relearn. These are practices that split the body we know in order to make way for other corporealities beyond the humanity fabricated by colonial modernity. How does choreography allow us to fabulate with these experiences and invites the audience to co-feel with them?_
― **Amador Alina Folini**

(Co-presented by Casa da Dança and Teatro Municipal Joaquim Benite)

Línguas enroladas chamam um vulcão ― Amador Alina Folini

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

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.

Artist Residencies — 2025

Artist Residencies — 2026

Territory is a program designed for young dancers, aged between 14 and 18, from dance schools all over the country. Over the course of a month of rehearsals, the selected participants will be in direct contact with the distinct languages of two choreographers while preparing the restaging of a piece and a new creation.

Over the course of its many editions, the program has welcomed more than 90 young dancers from nearly 40 dance schools across the country, who have worked with such choreographers as Douglas Lee, Filipe Portugal, Alexander Ekman, Maurice Causey, Marco Goecke, Iratxe Ansa & Igor Bacovich, Wayne McGregor, Shahar Binyamini, Marcos Morau, Dorotea Saykaly, Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, Akram Khan, Jermaine Spivey, and Nadav Zelner.

In its ninth edition, the program welcomes choreographer Wayne McGregor with a restaging of _FAR_ (excerpt) and choreographer Liliana Barros with a new creation.

Wayne McGregor is a British choreographer renowned for his fusion of contemporary dance, science, and technology. His work conceives the body as a field of experimentation, exploring highly physical movements, extreme precision, and unconventional choreographic vocabularies. A frequent collaborator of digital artists, cognitive scientists, composers, and designers, McGregor creates works that challenge the limits of perception and form, using dance to interrogate themes such as identity and memory.

Liliana Barros is a Portuguese choreographer and performer based on Berlin, whose work is distinguished by a strong visual component and a highly stylized movement vocabulary. Her creations explore hybrid universes between the organic and the artificial, combining technical rigor, theatricality, and an aesthetic characterized by minute gestural details. By designing intense sensory environments, Barros creates choreographies that investigate the body as it undergoes metamorphosis or as it is pushed to its limits.

This year’s edition will also feature a short film to be screened between the two pieces, directed by Filipe Faria – the winner of the Territory | Estúdios Victor Córdon Award for Best Portuguese Director at the 2025 InShadow — Lisbon ScreenDance Festival.

The Territory IX Program is sponsored by Fundação Millenium bcp.


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. 


Territory VII

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

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

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

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

Territory VIII

Territory IX

Other Worlds is a program dedicated to the representation of migrant communities residing in Portugal in new dance creations. Despite the geographical proximity, these immigrant communities often remain on the margin of the local community’s life and become, by virtue of this isolation, potential focal points of exclusion and targets of social prejudice. By making present in institutional spaces the diverse cultures that make up 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.

Cyclically selecting a country in focus, this program aims to draw attention to this country’s culture from the perspective of dance artists. In its second edition, now under the direction of Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, the focus will be on Afghanistan and Afghan culture. The creation process will extend throughout 2026, with a performance scheduled to premiere in 2027 at Teatro Camões.


_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, cyclically selecting a country in focus, aims to draw attention to this country's culture from 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.

The program is also included in 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.

Other Worlds ⏤ Iran

Other Worlds — Afghanistan 

With the Words and Practices Program, we aim to bring dance artists and the general public closer together. Over the course of one day structured into a practical part and a theoretical part, participants will have the opportunity to experience creation processes and what they are based on, thus helping to deepen readings of the invited artist’s works or performative proposals. Following a first edition of the program that featured Marco da Silva Ferreira, who shared with us the foundations of his creation process, presenting an intersection of styles, techniques and references where body, emotion and community intertwine, this year we welcome choreographer and multidisciplinary artist Tânia Carvalho.

We invite everyone to share in an intuitive process, where creation emerges from the interplay of light and shadow, traversed as it is by psychological, spiritual and oneiric dimensions that manifest themselves in the moving body.

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.


Programs