ⓒ Hugo David
Creation by São Castro
Premiere scheduled for September 27, 2024, at Teatro Municipal Joaquim Benite, Almada
After a first creation by São Castro for Companhia de Dança de Almada, “The Art of Losing” in 2016, once again we invited the choreographer to create a new piece with the cast of this company. The research and creation process will begin at Teatro Viriato, as part of the Artistic Residencies Programme "mi casa tu casa".
Associating itself with the 100th anniversary of the death of the controversial and influential writer Franz Kafka, in the year 2024, São Castro combines the body and its expressive potential with the visceral and enigmatic narrative of the author, in whose works the issue of art is brought to the center of the theme, as a metaphor for artistic creation itself, for the artist's relationship with the public and for the value of art itself. Bureaucratic labyrinths, the tragic and grotesque, the human condition and the absurdity of existence, are components of the bewilderment to which Kafka leads his characters and begins his stories.
In São Castro's choreographic work, there has been constant attention and reflection on the relationship between word and body. In recent years, she has developed theoretical and practical research, through her creations, in order to analyze and explore methods of translating the word into the body, so that it manifests itself as visible speech. A methodology that is designated as the embodiment of the word has been the focus in her creative processes, and simultaneously has revealed itself as a continuous search for communication processes in which the body is the protagonist and its movement enhances a non-verbal discourse that, even though it appears abstract - one of the characteristics associated with Dance - it has the capacity to reveal itself as a dramaturgical extension of the word. It is following this research that she will turn to Kafka's works for this new creation.
Conception and choreography: São Castro
Performance: Bruno Duarte, Inês Barros, Lúcia Salgueiro, Mariana Romão, Raquel Tavares, Vítor Afonso
Music: Michal Jacaszek, Stefan Wesolowski, William Basinski, Rimbaud, Davidson Jaconello, Woodkid & Nils Frahm, sound clips from the film "The Trial" by Orson Welles
Costumes: Nuno Nogueira
Light design: São Castro e Hugo Franco
Sound design: São Castro
Support for scenography: SO.MA
Costumes design assistance: Ana Alves
Rehearsal direction: Maria João Lopes
Support for artistic residency: Teatro Viriato
São Castro began her dance training at Balleteatro Escola Profissional de Dança e de Teatro do Porto. She has a degree in Dance from ESD - Escola Superior de Dança, IPL. She was a dancer at Balleteatro, Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporâneo and Ballet Gulbenkian. She has worked with several choreographers, including Isabel Barros, Rui Lopes Graça, Benvindo Fonseca, Vasco Wellenkamp, Paulo Ribeiro, Hofesh Shechter / Unstable, Olga Roriz, Clara Andermatt, Tânia Carvalho, Luís Marrafa, among others. In 2009, she began choreographing with the creation of the solo “aTempo" and, in the following years, she choreographed for the Companhia de Dança do Algarve, Escola de Dança do Conservatório Nacional, Projecto Quorum, Companhia de Dança de Almada (2016) and K2 Young Dance Company (2021). Since 2011, she has developed an artistic collaboration with choreographer and dancer António M Cabrita. In 2015, the two choreographers were distinguished with the Authors Award - Best Choreography for the piece “Play False”, by Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores and were nominated in subsequent years. Some of her pieces have been considered by the national press as one of the best dance performances of the year. She was distinguished by the Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa with the Silver Medal of Value and Distinction (2016). In 2017 São Castro and António M Cabrita created “Dido and Eneias” for Companhia Nacional de Bailado. In 2019, she was invited by Théâtre de la Mezzanine (France), to take on the choreographic direction, in co-creation with António M Cabrita, of the opera “Orphée et Eurydice”, directed and staged by Dennis Chabroullet. From January 2017 to December 2021, São Castro was, together with António M Cabrita, artistic director of Companhia Paulo Ribeiro. Since 2019, she has curated the event “A Cidade Dança”, following an invitation from the São João da Madeira City Council, as part of the celebration of World Dance Day. She is currently attending the Masters in Choreographic Creation and Professional Practices at ESD-IPL.
Tour
Teatro Municipal da Guarda, Guarda - Portugal, October 4, 2024
Contact the production of Companhia de Dança de Almada for the presentation of this creation (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
