C A R C A Ç A
Marco da Silva Ferreira (Portugal)
26.05.2023 | Boris Hristov House of Culture
Start: 19:30
How does memory work and how do we construct a sense of belonging?
Marco da Silva Ferreira returns to Plovdiv on 26 May with his new performance C A R C A Ç A, a co-production of ONE DANCE WEEK.
The Portuguese choreographer, whose performance BISONTE closed the 2022 edition of ONE DANCE WEEK, is one of the artists selected by Big Pulse Dance Alliance*.
Tickets for the performance are available at EasyPay box offices nationwide and online at the EPAYGO network.
C A R C A Ç A
A cannonade of footsteps ignites the fuse, the fire crawling over the bodies on stage, but the explosion will echo in another dimension. Ten performers, including choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira, take the audience on a journey to develop a collective identity, a cultural belonging, a shared memory. Intense and intricate foot movements and leaps preface Ferreira’s dance vocabulary, which speaks of resistance and rebellion, unification and inclusion, self-determination and diversity.
The white carpet, live electronic music and drums, and the spectacular lighting amplify the feeling of a club dance floor or carnival – where everyone is different and alone in their revelry and pain, but also part of the whole. What is the role of individual personalities in building a community? What is the driving force of an identity? How do we decide what to remember and what to forget as we grow through our personal world and that of others?
To provide answers, Ferreira unpacks the legacy of European traditional dances to bring to light their basic movements and staging. Their “codes,” however, are antiquated, even oppressive. They do not apply in today’s colourful urban and social context. They exclude identities, groups and relations other than the dominant ones. And could it be the other way around? This is why the Portuguese artist mixes marches and fanfare with club music, such as techno, trance, and dubstep.
C A R C A Ç A is a choreographic encounter between unifying folklore and liberating self-expression. Between the rules and the deviations from the rules in dance attributed to minority and marginal communities. This encounter is about understanding how memory works and how belonging is constructed.
MARCO DA SILVA FERREIRA
Born in Santa Maria da Feira, Marco began his dance career in 2004. Since then he has worked with Companhia de Dança do Norte, Companhia Tok’art (Made in time, 2011 and You never know how things are going to come together, 2012), and Companhia Instável (Fuga sem fim, 2011).
In 2012, Marco performed in Hofesh Shechter’s project Shelters; Elisabeth Lambeck’s EXIT 211-A; Sylvia Rijmer’s Anatomization at CCB boxnova, and Victor Hugo Pontes’ projects Rendez-vous and A strange land. He won Eurobattle 2009 in the “New Style” category and also won the TV show So You Think You Can Dance – Portugal. As a choreographer, he premiered his first solo, Nevoeiro 21, in Palcos Instáveis at Campo Alegre theatre in 2012. It has also been presented in the Solos Festival (Lisboa, Évora and Torres Vedras), as well as in maisImaginarius 2012.
In May 2013, Marco premiered the award-winning piece of maisImaginarius 2013 Réplica…éplica…éplica, a site-specific solo dance work. In June, Marco created Ailha with Victor Hugo Pontes, during a dance residency provided by 37.25-Núcleo de artes performativas and Walk&talk Azores festival. Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, a co-creation with Mara Andrade, was presented in Palcos Instáveis in October 2013 and in GUIdance 2014.
In 2014, Land(e)scape, a multi-disciplinary collaboration with a visual artist and sound installation was presented in Imaginarius and he premiered Hu(r)mano, which has been selected to represent Portuguese Young Artists 2015 and selected as an Aerowaves Twenty15 performance. He was the choreographic assistant for the play Hamlet (2014) by Mala Voadora and in Veraneantes (2017) by Nuno Cardoso; he was also artistic assistant of Victor Hugo Bridges in the creations Se alguma vez precisares da minha vida, vem e toma-a and Carnaval (both in 2016).
BROTHER (2016) consolidated an authorial discourse in a line of reflection on dance and its meaning today, creating connections with its origins and drawing a line made from the contemporary body. He made his debut at the Municipal Theater of Porto-Rivoli and has had a wide international and national tour, having also integrated Aerowaves Priority Companies 2018. BISONTE (2019) is a performative identity that fluctuates in an artificiality between hysteria and melancholy. Between 2018/2019 he was an associate artist at the Municipal Theater of Porto, and between 2019 and 2021 he was an associate artist at Center chorégraphique national de Caen in Normandie.
In 2020 he has an invitation to build a short piece for the National Ballet Company entitled CORPOS DE BAILE. Through practice, a warm-up practice based on footwork. SIRI (2021) prolongs the collaboration between choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira and director Jorge Jácome, after the co-signature of the show ÍRIS (2015), defended as a look at temporality, from the image, the visual construction and the discourse on the memory.
CREDITS:
Artistic Direction and Choreography: Marco da Silva Ferreira
Artistic Assistance: Catarina Miranda
Performers: André Garcia, Fábio Krayze, Leo Ramos, Marc Oliveras Casas, Marco da Silva Ferreira, Maria Antunes, Max Makowski, Mélanie Ferreira, Nelson Teunis, Nala Revlon
Light Design: Cárin Geada
Sound and Technical Direction: João Monteiro
Music: João Pais Filipe (percussionist) / Luís Pestana (eletronic musician)
Costumes: Aleksandra Protic
Scenography: Emanuel Santos
Anthropological Studies: Teresa Fradique
Folklore Dances: Joana Lopes
Production direction: Mafalda Bastos
Production: Joana Costa Santos, Mafalda Bastos
Production Structure: Pensamento Avulso
Diffusion: ART HAPPENS
Photography: Jose Caldeira
Co-production:
Teatro Municipal do Porto, Centro Cultural de Belém, Big Pulse Dance Alliance | co-produced by New Baltic Dance (Lithuania), Julidans (The Netherlands), Tanz im August/HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Germany), Dublin Dance Festival (Ireland) and ONE DANCE WEEK (Bulgaria).
Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen en Normandie, La briqueterie – CDCN du Val-de Marne, Maison des arts de Créteil, KLAP- Maison pour la danse, CCN-Ballet National de Marseille, Charleroi danse, centre chorégraphique de Wallonie – Bruxelles, December Dance (Concertgebouw and Cultuurcentrum Brugge), La rose des vents – scène nationale Lille Métropole – Villeneuve d’Ascq, TANDEM Scène Nationale Arras-Douai
Support República Portuguesa – Cultura, DGARTES – Direção Geral das Artes A Oficina, Ballet National de Marseille, Escola Superior de Dança, O Espaço
Artistic residencies A Oficina, Ballet National de Marseille, Escola Superior de Dança, O Espaço do Tempo, Teatro Municipal do Porto
BIG PULSE DANCE ALLIANCE is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union
*BIG PULSE DANCE ALLIANCE is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.