Evento
Thursday, February 1st
Bantu
Artistic Direction: Victor Hugo Pontes
Set Design: F. Ribeiro
Music: Throes + The Shine
Technical Direction and Lighting Design: Wilma Moutinho
Sound Design and Operation: João Monteiro
Costumes: Cristina Cunha, Victor Hugo Pontes
Mask Construction: Cristina Cunha
Costume Making: Emília Pontes and Domingos Freitas Pereira
Assistant Director: Cátia Esteves
Artistic Consultancy: Madalena Alfaia
Production Direction: Joana Ventura
Executive Production: Mariana Lourenço
Production Assistance: Inês Guedes Pereira
Performance by: Dinis Abudo Quilavei, Dinis Duarte, João Costa*, José Jalane, Maria Emília Ferreira, Marta Cardoso, Osvaldo Passirivo
Dancer kindly provided by CNB (Companhia Nacional de Bailado)
Internship as a Performer in Creation: Francisco Freire
Promoters: OPART/Estúdios Victor Córdon, Camões – Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo Institutional Partner of EVC: Camões I.P.
Production: Nome Próprio
Co-production: A Oficina/CCVF, Camões – Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo, Casa das Artes de Vila Nova de Famalicão, OPART/Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro José Lúcio da Silva, Teatro Nacional São João
Residency Support: A Oficina, Largo Residência, CRL - Central Eléctrica, Estúdios Victor Córdon, Teatro Municipal do Porto
Special Thanks: Joãozinho da Costa, Nuno Viegas
A program by Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões - Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo.
Nome Próprio is a resident structure at Teatro Campo Alegre, under the program Teatro em Campo Aberto, with the support of the Portuguese Republic - Culture / Directorate-General for the Arts.
Duration: Approximately 70 minutes.
"Bantu" designates a language family spoken in sub-Saharan Africa: it is identity, and it is community. "Bantu" signifies more than a linguistic occurrence. It can be: a language that has survived the imposition of European languages; an identity mechanism; a symbol closed to the colonizer; a form of communication, rich in cultural, historical, religious, and political codes; the ephemeral materialization of a long encounter. The word "Bantu" encompasses everything we want or imagine the Bantu show to be. However, what "Bantu" will be depends on the eyes of the beholder. This is also a space we wish to occupy: a different place for each of the bodies that inhabit it, shared in the wounds it tears, hesitant on the path it travels; an exuberant place in the celebration of the community gathered on stage.
"Bantu" originated from an invitation extended to Victor Hugo Pontes by Estúdios Victor Córdon and Camões – Portuguese Cultural Center in Maputo for the development of a new dance creation with Mozambican and Portuguese performers. EVC and Camões – Maputo are partners in a program aimed at building bridges between Portugal and Mozambique, promoting the circulation and internationalization of dance. "Bantu" is the result of this partnership.
Victor Hugo Pontes was born in Guimarães in 1978. He holds a degree in Fine Arts - Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Porto. In 2001, he attended the Norwich School of Art & Design in England. He completed professional courses in Theater at Balleteatro Escola Profissional and Teatro Universitário do Porto, as well as the course in Choreographic Research and Creation at Fórum Dança. In 2004, he took the Theater Directing course at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, led by the English company Third Angel. In 2006, he participated in the Thierry Salmon Project - La Nouvelle École des Maîtres, directed by Pippo Delbono, in Belgium and Italy. As a performer, he has collaborated with various directors and choreographers, including Nuno Carinhas, Lygia Pape, Isabel Barros, Clara Andermatt, Charlie Degotte, David Lescot, and Joana Craveiro.