2025

2020 marks the third edition of this EVC program, Territory—a springboard for young dancers from across the country. In addition to the countless young dancers who participated in previous editions, the program has also featured leading choreographers—Alexander Ekman, Douglas Lee, Filipe Portugal, and Maurice Causey. In the present edition, the program includes pieces by Marco Goecke and Iratxe Ansa | Igor Bacovich, and also a videodance by João Vaz, as part of the partnership with the InShadow Lisbon ScreenDance Festival.

The fifth edition of the Territory program brings together Catalan choreographer Marcus Morau (_La Veronal_) and Canadian choreographer Dorotea Saykaly, winner of the Emily Molnar Emerging Choreography Award (2021) in its first edition.

The program is a platform for budding artists, annually gathering twelve young dancers from dance schools across the country. In this way, Territory puts its participants in contact with the aesthetic diversity that characterizes dance today, promoting the construction of multiple and inclusive views. This highly professionalizing experience helps each participant discover their place in the world of dance.

This year we will continue the partnership with InShadow Lisbon Screendance Festival through the Territory | Estúdios Victor Córdon Award for Best National Director.

The program is supported by Millennium bcp, its main sponsor.

###### _Sunken_
Choreography by DOROTEA SAYKALY

###### _Dentro_
Short film directed by SARA BERNARDO and PEDRO EMES NOGUEIRA 

###### _Valse_
Choreography by MARCOS MORAU

Territory V

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

Twelve young dancers from across the country inhabited the EVC in a daily sharing of an environment that was closest to their professional ambitions. The Territory program turned out to be a place for developing their technical and artistic skills, as well as for sharing the experiences that defined the way the young dancers think about their future careers as performers. This program was the first professional experience for a lot of them.

After the Territory program in 2017-18, we present Territory II in the 2018-19 season, with an improved plan, and with the mission of introducing young dancers to the real work context and helping them launch their careers.

Território II

This is a program developed by the EVC in partnership with dance schools across Portugal, with the aim of providing a creation experience to young dancers alongside established choreographers in European companies.

After four weeks in residence at the EVC, the most awaited moment has come—the final presentation of this year’s edition. Featured in this presentation will be Marco Arantes’ film _Território Paralelo_, followed by the absolute premiere of two choreographies by Douglas Lee and Filipe Portugal. At the end, each participating young dancer will present themself.

###### PLAYDEAD
Choreography by DOUGLAS LEE

_Playdead_ is a new piece for 12 dancers created for Territory I, featuring music by Simeon ten Holt and Ezio Bosso. Games and the creative process were the original inspiration for _Playdead_.

_«My collaboration with the students, as a choreographer, and the creative games in the studio became themes that I associate with childhood, but which change as we grow old. The light and repetitive quality of the minimalist score remind of a music box or the rhythm and sound of a clock, although with an eery side. The changes in the musical atmosphere allow for contrasts between light movement sections and mysterious episodes. Children games, dolls and playing, the sound of the music box, the innocence and simplicity of childhood—when all of these are transferred to the more complex and more experienced world of adults, they can become sinister, threatening, even frightening... The further we are from childhood memories, the eerier and more fragmented these images can become.»_ 
— Douglas Lee, 2018

##### **Choreography, costumes and lighting design** | Douglas Lee 
##### **Music** | Incantatie IV by Simeon Ten Holt (Performed by Piano Ensemble — Irene Russo, Fred Oldenburg, Sandra e Jeroen van Veen); _Prelude n. 8_, Op. 28, _“The Dark Room”_ by Frédéric Chopin (Performed by Ezio Bosso); _Una melodia di Gluck “The Therapy Room”_ by Christoph Willibald Gluck, arranged by Giovanni Sgambatti (Performed by Ezio Bosso)

###### TERRITÓRIO PARALELO
A film by MARCO ARANTES

_«One studio, two choreographers and twelve young dancers from dance schools all over the country. This, in sum, is what defines the EVC’s Territory project. This was the starting point for the work I was invited to develop. Faced with the challenge of directing a film to be presented alongside the two choreographies, the necessity arose to protect the artistic work being developed and not reveal it too much. So, I opted to focus on secondary—but not less interesting—aspects, namely the working relationships between young dances at the beginning of a creative process, space recognition, group recognition, the understanding of new languages, of new aesthetical movements that come up as the choreography is being constructed, in what is to be the first professionalizing experience in the lives of these twelve young dancers.»_
— Marco Arantes, 2018

###### O NÃO EFÉMERO (“The Non-Ephemeral”)
Choreography by FILIPE PORTUGAL

_«Twelve dancers. Different ages, different educations, united by a common dream and goal: to “fly” high, to go far, always further. And these are life experiences that intersect. Admirations, friendships, complicities that arise, dreams and smiles that are shared. And it is this combination of shared life experiences that makes this project something very special, something these youths will cherish forever as the beginning of their greatest dream’s fulfillment. And they learn not only their “strength” but also their “weakness”, knowing that something which is not very sure today will be more so tomorrow, because that is the natural development for Man. And they learn that we should be ourselves without ever sacrificing our individuality, but coming together as a group, that we grow, upholding one another in a spirit of sharing that leads to full personal realization. In the presence of the group, and plunging into the soul of each member in a communion, a joining of hands between the choreographer and the youths, Filipe Portugal thus fills the pre-existing void, the “nothing”—a “nothing” that transmutes into something very concrete: “the non-ephemeral”. As the common work comes to an end, the young dancers know one thing for sure: the apparent “nothing” is never truly so; the path is never to give up on the dream.»_
— Teresa Santos

##### **Choreography, costumes and lighting design** | Filipe Portugal 
##### **Music** | _Clouds_ — Abel Korzeniowsk remix; _Mozart-Adagio_ by Arvo Pärt; _November (From “Memoryhouse”)_ by Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà (by _Portrait: Max Richter_); _Tu és a terra_ by Ólafur Arnalds

Territory I

Now in its fourth edition, Territory is an EVC program designed to launch the careers of young dancers, expanding their professional horizons and giving each participant a clearer sense of their future path. The twelve dancers, coming from dance schools across the country, work with world-renowned choreographers, immersing themselves in a very demanding professional environment, similar to what they will later encounter in a repertory company. Each year’s program culminates in a public performance.

João Afonso Vaz, winner of the Territory | Estúdios Victor Córdon Award for Best Portuguese Director in the InShadow — Libson ScreenDance Festival’s twelfth edition, directs the short film featured in the performance.

###### _Evolving_
Choreography by SHAHAR BINYAMINI 

##### **Lighting design and costumes** | Shahar Binyamini
##### **Assistant** | Yotam Baruch
##### **Musical creation and performance** | Bruna de Moura (cello) and Carolina Duarte (violin)

_Evolving_, Shahar Binyamini’s new creation, explores the notion of overcoming from his conceptual perspective and his physical expression in dance. In this piece, the dancers’ physical limitations are the worktool for the devolpment of the creative process. The dancers use their muscles in constant exertion as they strive for a collective understanding. As distinct entities, as individual bodies, the performers seek a meeting point of forces in which each of them may realize their own power and singularity; in a relentless effort to find a common place that motivates them to move and interact within a chaotic world.
     
###### _In(di)visível_
Short film directed by JOÃO AFONSO VAZ
 
##### **Camera assistant** | Paulo Derriça
##### **Edition** | André Mendes
##### **Assistant editor** | Grazie Pacheco
##### **Colorist** | João Sanchez
##### **Original music** | João Ferreira

###### _Entity_ (excerpts)
Choreography by WAYNE MCGREGOR

###### **Restaging** | Catarina Carvalho
###### **Original music** | Jon Hopkins
###### **Set design and costumes** | Patrick Burnier
###### **Lighting design** | Lucy Carter

Wayne McGregor’s award-winning choreography _Entity_ has been an enormous success since it premiered in 2008. Technically surprising, emotionally uncompromising and impactful, McGregor’s work defies categorization. Created alongside an international research project on choreography and artificial intelligence, _Entity_ is an impressive mixture of bodies, lights, technology, and image—a breathtaking journey through the soundscape of Coldplay and Massive Attack with the collaboration of Jon Hopkins and prize-winning Joby Talbot. The piece received the 2009 South Bank Show Award of Dance, the 2009 Movimentos Dance Prize, the Audience Award at Dance Week Festival in Zagreb in 2008, and the Critics’ Circle Award (Spotlight for Modern Male Artist) for dancer Anh Ngoc Nguyen. The version presented as part of Territory IV is a restaging of excerpts taken from the original piece.

Território IV

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.

Programs

2020