OtherWorlds⏤Iran

This is a program dedicated to migrant communities living in Portugal. Based on the study of their respective cultures, we propose creating materials and art works that can be shared and promote public interaction. Despite the relative physical proximity of all of us living here, these are communities that often remain on the fringes of society, which makes them potential targets for exclusion and social discrimination as a result of such isolation.

The program, which involves cyclically choosing a target country, aims to highlight that country's culture through the gaze of a dance creator. In its first edition, Iran was chosen as the country of focus. To make this challenging undertaking a reality, we invited choreographer Clara Andermatt, who will create a piece founded in the cultural heritage of Iran, and which is to be developed in close contact with the Iranian community in Portugal. With the first phase of the project’s development having already started in 2023, the creative process will be carried out in 2024 and the premiere will happen in January 2025, to be followed by other scheduled presentations of the new work.

Also part of the program is an initiative called Ir à escola [“reaching out the schools”], which aims to make the culture and life situations of people from Iran known to youth school groups across the country in the form of talks and short performances.

We believe that this way of “introducing and letting people in” the cultural heritage of another country, developed in close connection with its immigrant community in our country, can actively contribute to a stronger presence of Other Worlds in Portugal.