On International Dance Day we want to celebrate together this unique form of expression that stimulates, brings us together and moves us every day. In a risky "adventure without a map", in Pina's words, we discover a world with each new project and build emotional, social and artistic bridges that enrich our cultural landscape.

It is because dance holds a fundamental place in the context of performing arts that Estúdios Victor Córdon decided, together with journalist and critic Cristina Peres, to create the cycle of conversations A Collection for Tomorrow, dedicated to the life and work of contemporary creators connected to the field.

The project was launched in 2021, during the pandemic, and had as its first guest the Cape Verdean choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas. From that first conversation emerged a possible name for the following invitation, and thus, in a surprising spontaneous sequence, the collection was born. It features key personalities of Portuguese dance who have led important innovations and breakthroughs in performing arts in our country over the last four decades.

It is a singular, varied collection that makes room for questions we had not yet asked and reveals us that the "dancing body has paved the way for the expression of many other bodies and a diversity of experiences that have created a mixture. Shortening the story, which is after all recent, we added words and reflection to formulate in another way, and in parallel, the discoveries that the bodies brought us." (Cristina Peres, 2021)

In 2023 we celebrate the International Dance Day by promoting the extraordinary encounters of A Collection for Tomorrow, seeking to learn and think together, in a fruitful sharing of experiences by and for the artistic community, open to anyone who wants to commemorate with us!

The entire Collection available [here](https://estudiosvictorcordon.pt/en/programs/a-collection-for-tomorrow-1).

Teatro Viriato, in Viseu, and Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, in Leiria, join us in this celebration.

Events

large_Dia Mundial da Dança ⏤ 2023

medium_Dia Mundial da Dança ⏤ 2023

small_Dia Mundial da Dança ⏤ 2023

thumbnail_Dia Mundial da Dança ⏤ 2023

Dia Mundial da Dança ⏤ 2023

No Dia Mundial da Dança queremos celebrar juntos esta insubstituível forma de expressão que diariamente nos estimula, aproxima e comove. Numa arriscada “aventura sem mapa”, nas palavras de Pina, descobre-se um mundo a cada novo projeto e constroem-se pontes afetivas, sociais e artísticas que enriquecem o nosso panorama cultural.

É pelo lugar fundamental que a Dança ocupa no contexto das artes performativas que os Estúdios Victor Córdon decidiram, em conjunto com a jornalista e crítica Cristina Peres, criar o ciclo de conversas Uma Coleção para Amanhã, dedicado a conhecer a vida e obra de criadoras e criadores contemporâneos ligados à disciplina. 

O projeto foi lançado em 2021, durante a pandemia, e teve como primeira convidada a coreógrafa cabo-verdiana Marlene Monteiro Freitas. Dessa primeira conversa surgiu um nome para o convite seguinte, e, assim, num encadeamento espontâneo surpreendente, a coleção foi nascendo. Dela fazem parte algumas figuras fundamentais da dança portuguesa que lideraram importantes inovações e ruturas nas artes performativas no nosso país ao longo das últimas quatro décadas.

É uma coleção singular, diversa, que dá lugar às perguntas que ainda não tínhamos feito e nos revela que o «corpo que dança abriu caminho à expressão de muitos outros corpos e a uma diversidade de experiências que criaram mistura. Encurtando a história, que é afinal recente, incluímos a palavra e a reflexão para formular de outra maneira, e em paralelo, as descobertas que os corpos nos levaram a fazer.» (Cristina Peres, 2021)

É divulgando os extraordinários encontros de Uma Coleção para Amanhã que em 2023 celebramos o Dia Mundial da Dança, procurando aprender e pensar em conjunto, numa partilha profícua de experiências de e para a comunidade artística, aberta a quem connosco quiser comemorar!

Toda a Coleção disponível [aqui](https://estudiosvictorcordon.pt/programs/uma-colecao-para-amanha-1).

O Teatro Viriato, em Viseu, e o Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, em Leiria, juntam-se a nós nesta celebração.

>_**A Collection for Tomorrow**_
>##### (the people we are going to be)
>Before the world underwent the great change that 2020 brought us globally and almost simultaneously, dance was no longer just the art of the virtuous, aerial, indisputable body outside the canons that allowed it to fly, but at the same time locked it in a code that removed it from the larger discussion of the body. 
>The dancing body opened the way to the expression of many other bodies and to a diversity of experiences that created a mixture. Cutting short the story, which is after all recent, we decided to add the word and reflection to formulate in another way, and in parallel, the discoveries that the bodies led us to make.
>
> The imposition of social distance brought us other possibilities of having or provoking unlikely encounters. It gave us ideas about the questions we hadn't yet asked, about the resonance of experiences beyond the subject matter dealt with at the time. 
> 
> For the collective memory, thousands of themes that made us the people we are today remain unnamed. We want to know more about the paths of the people who, in the past, led to breakthroughs in Portuguese performing arts, whether that time was ten, 20 or 30 years ago. We want to know who they are today and why they are like that. And to discover who we are after having come across them.  
> 
> Dance in Portugal has traveled. It went outside and came back, it compared itself. To compare oneself to the reality of the other is the greatest and most essential experience in the construction of the self. At what point do we discover things that are better than us at the same time that we discover in ourselves traces of what we imagined to be in others?
> 
> Dance relates to a multiplicity of "layers" of all people and, therefore, of the public too. We might be more used to resorting to reason to discuss what we saw in a performance, but our muscles "saw" us at the same time. Did the muscles "talk" about the experience? Probably not. Hence, the series of interviews promoted by the EVC will be dedicated to the questions that were never asked to people who were there at the time, and are here again. Maybe they were headliners then, yet now they will be reflecting. And they are going to transform those who were not headliners into protagonists of the change that made us as we are. 
> 
> I, Cristina Peres, will ask the questions and lead people to question themselves. I was there ten, 20, 30 years ago, but I haven't seen everything, either. As we can never have a clear notion of the present, the past, and the future in a single moment, we will try to look at the trace that remained, valuing our being a point of arrival. And, even more, serving as a bridge to what is to come.
> 
> One or two guests. One theme. A conversation that is meant to travel as far as dance can go. Without limits of time or space, building a collection for tomorrow.
>
> Cristina Peres, 2021



###### Part I 
Marlene Monteiro Freitas
_[Pieces are living entities](https://youtu.be/yCN27S_SjtA)_

###### Part II
Clara Andermatt
_[To choose the best surprises](https://youtu.be/HSFdhAxJWOE)_

###### Part III
André Guedes
_[Generating spontaneous complicity](https://youtu.be/nJey-jEeWI0)_

###### Part IV
Vera Mantero
_[The party of conjugation](https://youtu.be/WebwaqDphyE)_

###### Part V
António Pinto Ribeiro
_[We are willingly going blind](https://youtu.be/BHMMcPDdneg)_

###### Part VI
Mark Deputter
_[The first impulse is to be fascinated by the work](https://youtu.be/ZyyeX25WT3U)_

###### Part VII
João Fiadeiro
_[Suspending Certainty](https://youtu.be/XJGYv6y2zP8)_

###### Part VIII
João Lucas
_[Discovering the world beyond what it is](https://youtu.be/-clcK1BzGUo)_

###### Part IX
Miguel Abreu 
_[The non-coexistence of diversity destroys culture](https://youtu.be/ClpbpwFFmkw)_

###### Part X
Olga Roriz
_[The soul of the shoe is me](https://youtu.be/_J9gBSiY9Co)_

###### More information
You can watch the entire collection [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAO_nJtqGJzH_jYr9EMTjIhDVFfMK-oZS).



A Collection for Tomorrow

2023

Marlene Monteiro Freitas

Clara Andermatt

André Guedes

Vera Mantero

António Pinto Ribeiro

Mark Deputter

João Fiadeiro

João Lucas

Miguel Abreu

Olga Roriz

International Dance Day ⏤ 2023

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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.

#### MOZAMBICAN DANCE PRACTICES: MARRABENTA 
- with Dinís Quilavei and José Jalane

Marrabenta is Mozambique's national musical rhythm and dance. It originated in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming established in the 1950s in the suburban neighborhoods of Lourenço Marques (now Maputo). Characterized by a contagious rhythm, fast tempo, and intense dance, it blends  traditional rhythms from the south of the country with Western influences. It evolved as a form of cultural resistance, becoming a vibrant symbol of Mozambican identity.  

 The name comes from the expression “rebenta” (from the verb “arrebentar,” meaning “to burst”), associated with the intense dance and the way the guitar strings, improvised at the time, would burst. Marrabenta served as a popular expression and cultural resistance during the colonial period, being considered subversive. It began with artists such as Fany Mpfumo and Dilon Djindji, gaining orchestration in the 1970s/1980s with the group  Orquestra  Marrabenta Star de Moçambique. 
 
The dance is characterized by a fast, lively, and contagious rhythm, with a strong influence from the guitar, intense percussion from drums and maracas, involving sensual and undulating movements, with sideways sliding of the feet. The lyrics were often sung in local languages, addressing everyday life, love, and social intervention. Marrabenta is the rhythm that best defines Mozambique, with a strong presence in national festivities and celebrations, influencing modern genres and remaining alive in contemporary Mozambican culture.

Dancing the World — 2026

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###### 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.

Other Supports — 2026

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###### 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)

Dance Classes at Estúdio 1 — 2026

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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


Kick Off ’26

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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.

### 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

As both dancer/performer and teacher, João Cardoso has been interested in contact improvisation techniques and how to apply them to horizontal floor work and vertical work in a contemporary dance class. The connection with music plays an essential role in this class model, as it stimulates the practice of a playful body that enjoys moving through energetic approaches. The practice itself begins with shared or individual moments of "body reset," whether through breathing exercises, exploring fatigue, or improvising from points of contact. On the one hand, the practice develops into patterns of movement research, paying attention to touch and the awaken of forgotten parts of the body. On the other hand, it develops in the use of floor work techniques, bringing awareness to the transitions between horizontal and vertical and challenging a concept of "collective mind." Sprinkled with a touch of expressive drama, this practice presents itself as an invitation to the development of capable, gentle, humble, curious, alert bodies and minds, connected to the inherent pleasure of dancing and moving.

EVC Training '26

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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.

Exhibitions — 2026

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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.

Words and Practices with Tânia Carvalho

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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 a 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.”_

David Marques & Teresa Silva


Meetings for the Future VIII

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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.

Artist-in-Residence Project '26 PNA

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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 — Cláudia Dias
&nbsp;
- **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

Season Partners — 2026

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**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.


PALOP — 2026

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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


At Home ⏤ Daniel Matos

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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 — 2026

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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 — 2026

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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: Afghanistan 

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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.

Young Composers 2026

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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.


Territory IX

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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 — 2026

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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

Josefa Searle ©EVC 2021

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 — 2022

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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

Território VI

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

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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.

Território III

Território I

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

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

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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

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

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

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

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

Photography Residencies ⏤ Estelle Valente

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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

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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 

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


Words and Practices com Marco da Silva Ferreira

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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

Josefa Searle ©EVC | 2021

First Stage is a program dedicated to young, recently graduated artists, with the aim of supporting the creation of their first works. This season, the EVC will support artistic creation at a national level, promoting partnerships with various educational structures linked to the performing arts, namely Escola Superior de Dança (ESD), Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE), Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (FMH), and Forum Dança.

First Stage 2022

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First Stage — 2025

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###### 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

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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

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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

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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

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In Transit — 2025

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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

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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 

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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

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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

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###### 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 — 2025

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rui Lopes Graça,
February 2025

2025 SEASON ⏤ On the ground we walk on

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_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

©EVC 2022

The conference _Meetings for the Future IV_ brings to the centre of the reflexion the transition of careers in the performing arts. 
With an analytical look at the pilot experience developed in the EVC over a period of three months and the current situation in Europe and Portugal, future possibilities concerning the career transition of performing arts professionals are envisaged. 
More than finding answers in the present, the aim is to produce a tangible and clear reading of the current situation that allows us, collectively, to glimpse ways to act in the future. It is, therefore, with our gaze directed towards the future that we intend to propose this reflection and, above all, to stimulate a dialogue committed to the effective implementation of practices in the field of career management and transition - projecting into the future a permanent mechanism that will have the capacity to leverage and facilitate this process. 

###### Target Audience
Performing arts professionals

###### Free access

###### Accessibility
Simultaneous Translation and Portuguese Sign Language (LGP)

Conference ⏤ Meetings for the Future IV

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##### _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

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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

Uma Coleção para Amanhã ⎯ Eixo Atlântico

Coming to its 3rd edition, which follows a series of conversations dedicated to artists and cultural activists from Mozambique, _A Collection for Tomorrow_ will travel the Atlantic axis in 2023 and early 2024. Cristina Peres invites creators from Angola, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe, in a total of seven episodes. 

##### ⎯

##### Few people remember the social distance imposed by the pandemic that in 2020 and 2021 forced us to imagine other possibilities to communicate and provoke unusual encounters. The positive part of these limitations was the way we overcame them and how we got quite far. We gained the perspective that allowed us to ask the questions we had not yet asked, and we listened to the resonance of the experiences far beyond the time in which they happened. **We decided to engage in conversation**.
##### 2021 was the first year of _A Collection for Tomorrow_, ten conversations with ten people invited to reflect on artistic creation, world, art, and politics, bringing together a whole of experiences that contributed to and constituted the movement which, organized in such a unique way over the last 30, 40 years, brought us here.
##### Along the way, **we have influenced each other**. In 2022, and because dance travels, it moves, comes back and compares itself, we invented a way of building a two-way bridge connecting Lisbon to Maputo. Actually, it already existed; what we did was invite those who made the journey from here to there and from there to here to tell us all about it in a new collection of ten conversations. At what point did we discover things that are better than ourselves while at the same time finding in ourselves traces of what we imagined would be from others?
##### The invisible threads that link the body's memory to all other memories are not easily exhausted - this was the conclusion of these new ten conversations that we gathered at a distance. So, why not spread the discussion, moving from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, and propose again in 2023 a new _Collection for Tomorrow_? Lisbon - Cape Verde, Angola and S. Tomé and Príncipe are waiting for a connection.
##### Cristina Peres, 2023

###### Invited artists:
##### Ana Clara Guerra Marques (Angola)
##### Aneth e Miguel Carlos (Angola)
##### António Tavares (Cape Verde)
##### Bibiana Figueiredo (São Tomé e Príncipe)
##### Lucièny Cabral & Nuno Barreto (Cape Verde)
##### Mano Preto (Cape Verde)
##### Mónica Anapaz (Angola)

###### You can watch the program [HERE](https://youtu.be/VqGBXj5Xl00).



A Collection for Tomorrow ⏤ Atlantic Axis

The 2nd edition of _A Collection for Tomorrow_, curated by Cristina Peres and directed by João Afonso Vaz, dedicates 10 conversations to the dance scene in Mozambique.
A program in partnership with Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, with the institutional support of Camões, I.P. and decor support by Around the Tree.


>The imposition of social distance brought us other possibilities to generate improbable encounters. It revealed ideas and questions we hadn't asked yet - about the resonance of experiences beyond the time when they took place - and suggested that we talk.
>
>So, we perfused the months of 2021 with _A Collection for Tomorrow_ - ten conversations with ten people invited to reflect on creation, world, art, and politics and to follow this unique movement taking place over the last thirty or forty years and bringing us here. 
>
>Along the way, we have influenced each other. In 2022, and because dance travels, goes back and forth, and makes comparisons, we want to transform the imaginary bridge standing between Lisbon and Maputo, as well as going through the inverse route, by publishing the second collection of conversations. When do we discover things which are better than ourselves, at the same time that we discover in ourselves traces of what we imagined to be others'?
>
>Lisbon and Maputo are cities connected by the marks of those who have woven invisible threads associating the body's memory to all the other memories we will bring together, now in a systematized way, resulting in a new collection of conversations.
>
>Cristina Peres, 2022   


###### Part  I
Quito Tembe
_[I am a mirror of the issue of professionalization of art in Maputo](https://youtu.be/zbotY1zKE8Q)_


###### Part  II
Maria Helena Pinto
_[Dance has become a political path](https://youtu.be/VTJb-0sEjz0)_


###### Part  III
Panaibra Canda
_[This Mozambique is full of diversity](https://youtu.be/ity6XkBApzU)_


###### Part  IV
Edna Jaime
_[Artivism - my work impacts the world](https://youtu.be/5tgS7SvNP40)_


###### Part  V
Pak Ndjamena
_[Persist, insist, go back, and...it happens!](https://youtu.be/WGh2FDx40I0)_


###### Part  VI
Ídio Chichava
_[Emancipate Mozambique](https://youtu.be/LBWqP24clvY)_


###### Part  VII
Horácio Macuácua
_[I didn't choose dance. Dance chose me.](https://youtu.be/hoe7NGAJWfs)_


###### Part VIII
Mariana Tembe
_[To keep a dialogue with the world](https://youtu.be/1yrZ76TDYoo)_


###### Part IX
Edivaldo Ernesto
_[My whole life influences what I do on stage](https://youtu.be/jfMu_LFSSFg)_


###### PART X
Yuck Miranda
_[What drives me in art is indignation](https://youtu.be/arlTEH7gWwg)_

###### More information
You can see the whole collection [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAO_nJtqGJzGzfNRxgzkwgeuMzDvE8nQU).


A Collection for Tomorrow ⏤ Lisbon | Maputo

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In the new edition of the series A Collection for Tomorrow, Cristina Peres collects short statements by choreographers on fundamental questions about the state of the world.

“Almost everything has changed in the world today, but many modus operandi remain unchanged. Faced with two active wars, a significant increase in the planet's average temperature, a continent of plastic waste drifting in the oceans, an economic model based on growth that is leaving millions more people on the margins every year and global consumption that is exhausting the earth of natural resources earlier and earlier in the year, we want to hear from the artists. Do these issues weigh on the choices they make? Do they go into the studio with them everyday? What kind of questions do they ask themselves when a member of their team is barred entry to their country of work? Is art safe from aggression? Is it immune to xenophobia? If not, how can it be strengthened? What are they doing to keep art a bastion of humanity?”

This program is designed to question renowned choreographers  and hear what they have to say about current events. In addition to the reflection process involved in creating a piece, we want them to tell us how they perceive the world. We went after their words so that we could turn them into short and quick messages adapted to the frenetic rhythm of our times.”

Cristina Peres

- Complete series on our [YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@estudiosvictorcordon). 

A Collection for Tomorrow ⏤ À la Minute

FALAR AS DANÇAS ● WORDING DANCES

The _Wording Dances_ podcast proposes a lecture series where renowned artists from the international contemporary dance scene discuss matters which make of dancing and choreographing an inexhaustible terrain of experimentation, problematization and thinking. Curated by Carlos Manuel Oliveira, it is a co-production between EVC and Parasita Association.

Alongside the singularity of each artist's work, lines of thought will be exposed in relation to politics in dance, social choreography, the relationship between dance and language, creative processes and their respective products, or even in relation to the cognition of corporealities. By posing questions such as _What can choreographic thinking do?_, we hope to summon up unique answers, based on what each artist is most dedicated to. In short, the word is given to those who dance and make others dance, but who also question dance and make others think.


###### The series is published in the following platforms: 
[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/2PHvgkPmXnidSDjLB8p2bo), [Apple Podcasts](https://shorturl.at/lsuZ5), [Google Podcasts](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lYjQzNWQ3OC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwi48K2uxuKEAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ), [Pocket Casts](https://pca.st/kkj0nozt), [Radio Public](https://shorturl.at/ovyW0), [Castbox](https://shorturl.at/dmyGJ), [Soundcloud](https://shorturl.at/fvJK9) and [Amazon Music](https://rb.gy/olashn).

###### You can also access translated episodes (PT - EN) [HERE](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAO_nJtqGJzGPOnQvAth35cyIRcrYdZj3&si=gMDanTDNPeplDW27).


Wording Dances

Temporada 2024

#### The world is the home of the body.

##### The body as a matter of common heritage. A body that listens and acts; a place of dance, from this and other worlds.

##### As Estúdios Victor Córdon enter a new cycle, we are firmly committed to continuing to support the independent artistic community, with a primary focus on dance. We also reiterate our dedication to promoting initiatives that help young artists start their careers, that intensify the circulation of artists from and within the Portuguese-speaking African countries, that provide a space where immigrant communities and their descendants living in Portugal can be represented, and that, in general, are an example of the increased democratic access to cultural institutions. When fundamental values are reversed, it is essential to multiply actions that directly impact on the lives of the people affected by this reversal, while it is true that many different approaches are needed to respond to the reality of our times.

##### The 2024 Season aims to reflect the state of a world in (dis)aggregation, about which we urgently need to think and on which we must act. As Portugal celebrates half a century of liberty and democracy, we need to reaffirm universal humanist values, because a transformation in the political context won't change the fact that such work has to be carried out. Establishing these values always involves a constant effort, starting at the core of one's individual life. Our time must be a time of continuous action to counter oblivion, which remains an eternal enemy of civilizations, and to respect and recognize the dignity of every person.

##### The voices and needs of creators and performers. The recording and transmission of these voices, coming from many different places in the world. Thinking about artistic creation and its impact on social reality. The routes of the Portuguese language as spaces for meeting, sharing and establishing networks where artists can travel, proposing to bring North and South closer together. Migrant communities living in Portugal and the role of artistic creation in the process of drawing different cultures together.  Communities of African descent and their presence in cultural institutions and society in general. To support artists, festivals and educational institutions, as well as to give assistance to young performers and creators who are starting their careers. These are the main lines guiding the nearly twenty programs we are proposing for 2024.

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

##### This is where we propose to meet. In a home of the world.
##### ⎯
##### Rui Lopes Graça
##### January 2024

##### .

#### EVC: Other spaces
##### While researching the archive of choreographer Paula Massano at the National Museum of Theatre and Dance, I came across the file “Proposal for the Organisation of a Minimum Support Structure for a Workshop”. This document was sent to the National Ballet of Portugal (CNB) a year after its foundation, in 1978, as an attempt to establish a permanent choreographic experimentation project. The document opened with a description of what a workshop is, a term that wasn’t used at the time: “a workshop is a place where a group of people gather around a common work with the aim of, within a given field of artistic practices (in this case, dance), developing it in order to discover new forms and necessarily, new content.”

##### Paula Massano’s proposal was not adopted by the CNB. Was it discussed? It might have seemed radical, on the one hand, or naïve, on the other, at a time when the company had just been founded and was trying to become, essentially, a classical corps de ballet. If we propel it into the present, this proposal prompts a reflection on the mission of a state dance company. Although CNB’s statutes have always ensured a coexistence between classical and contemporary dance, this balance has always seemed complicated. What could a permanent movement research workshop do for the company, in particular, and to dance, in general?

##### The history of Estúdios Victor Córdon (EVC) is inextricably linked to the CNB and emerged as a project by Luísa Taveira (director from 2010 to 2017), with the intention of promoting the career transition of dancers who were no longer performing. Opening its doors in 2016 under the coordination of Bruno Cochat, EVC began as an “educational, community and creative centre” with dance classes for children and adults, masterclasses, workshops and other projects. In 2017, the choreographer, former dancer and CNB special projects coordinator Rui Lopes Graça was appointed to lead the project. Despite maintaining a concern for the dancers’ professional transition, another direction was set out.

##### Described as a “platform”, Estúdios Victor Córdon are a place for practice, research, experimentation and choreographic creation without a defined aesthetic line. Being one of the few places in Lisbon with the right conditions for dance practice – i.e. spacious studios with wooden flooring, sprung floor, linoleum covering and heating –, the EVC provide vital support to the independent dance community by offering proper studios to work and rehearse.

##### One of their core initiatives is to offer daily dance classes for professionals at a fee of three euros. The classical dance classes are usually taught by former dancers from the CNB and Ballet Gulbenkian, among others, ensuring intergenerational transmission. The classes are attended by a wide variety of people, and in the same studio you might come across a retired dancer from the Paris Opera who has bought a house in Lisbon, a choreographer of the New Portuguese Dance movement, a young dancer who has just graduated from the Conservatory, a former student of Forum Dança, a researcher at c.e.m – centro em movimento, an amateur doing a PhD in sociology, a dancer who works abroad, is on vacation in Lisbon and is attending a vogue ball in the evening, dancers who either are between projects, have an audition or want to warm up before rehearsing. The contemporary dance classes are taught by a younger community – active dancers aged between 20 and 40, who also have the opportunity to share their practice with others. With a pedagogical and professionalising focus, the EVC have also been working to create opportunities for young performers, either through collaboration between dance schools across the country and foreign choreographers, or by establishing collaborations between art schools from different fields, such as music.

##### The EVC have understood that, in order to have a comprehensive discourse, it can't always be the same people doing things. Power cannot be pyramidal; on the contrary, it has to be shared, to be a dialog, to be a bridge. Part of EVC’s programs involve inviting different people to curate, opening up the spectrum of collaborations to do what might not have been within their reach.  What comes out is not the voice of a director, but different voices that show and nurture the diversity of the dance scene in its multiplicity. This openness should also be seen as a space of responsibility for when, occupying places of power and decision making, institutions pursue the task of continuously repairing the structural injustices that continue to divide the world in two.

##### The world needs new and renewed institutions. Institutions that make us believe in them, that are transparent, open, with spirit, and that inspire us, represent us and make us want to be represented. Institutions that aren’t machines for sucking up heads and taxpayers, nor launching pads for their directors. The EVC have become a home for many. They are a place where we know we are well looked after, where we feel welcomed, appreciated and respected, regardless of the kind of dance we practise. This transversal dimension, promoting different perspectives, fosters communication between peers who often don’t cross paths, no longer cross paths or don’t want to cross paths. It’s a place of encounters, where one can meet new people or people we admire but never actually see. We never know who’s going to cross the hallway and that brings us a mixture of flutter and excitement.

##### Many of EVC’s actions are invisible and involve muscular, psychological and legal support or, in other words, care. Care which isn’t protocol, but that comes from an experienced team who are devoted to their daily practice: dance. This attitude proves that institutions, despite being created by decree, are made by people and out of love, attention and dedication. Although the EVC emerged as an attempt to solve a problem within the CNB, it became an inspiration for the dance scene in general, and an example of what a national dance project could be. That project would be, in addition to a corps de ballet, and in Paula Massano’s words, a place to develop the field of dance permanently, in its form and substance. Through the actions of the EVC it is possible to see a large spectrum of the dance field, its networks, subjects, aesthetics, concerns, desires and needs, but the way it operates allows us more: it allows us to collectively imagine how to make of an institution one other space.
##### ⎯
##### João dos Santos Martins
##### January 2024

2024 SEASON — The world is the home of the body.

Apoio a instituições de dança

The EVC open its doors to universities or equivalent institutions in some of their training programs. With this initiative, we aim to consolidate the relationships established with these institutions for the benefit of new generations of dance artists.







Support for Dance Education Institutions

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

Prática Diária

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

Apoio a audições

The Support for Auditions Program continues to provide artists with the necessary conditions to participate in selection processes for training programs or casts. Thus, the studios open their doors to performers who need a space to record audiovisual materials for auditions or academic tests.

Support for Auditions

Residências Artísticas Fotografia

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

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

Photography Residency Program

1º Ciclo

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

Em Trânsito

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.


Schedule

International Dance Day ⏤ 2023→