TerritoryIX

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.