The song starts with the voice of a woman who speaks. She speaks creole. She speaks Tshokwe. She speaks Portuguese. On stage, three bodies, three women portrayed as foreigners, speaking these three languages. In each woman, an essence, a personality, and a journey intertwined, with the certainty that nothing will be the same. In this Black Dawn we look for the origins and the deepest roots of these cultures, by celebrating their legacy and defining a path where we assert ourselves as protagonists of our own stories.
Aurora Negra is the 1st project co-created by Cleo Diára, Isabél Zuaa and Nádia Yracema. The three of them are graduated from ESTC-Superior School of Theater and Cinema (Lisbon, PT), and followed a parallel path in theater and cinema interpretation, nationally and internationally. Aurora Negra has born from the observation of the invisibility to which black bodies are subject in the performing arts and intends to give a voice to these bodies, with special emphasis on black women. This project was the winner of the 2nd edition of Bolsa Amélia Rey Colaço / Teatro Nacional D. Maria II.
Artistic direction, creation and interpretation Cleo Diára, Isabél Zuaa e Nádia Yracema
Scenography Tony Cassanelli
Costumes José Capela
Light Design and Video Felipe Drehmer
Original music Carolina Varela, Yaw Tembe
Dramaturgy support Sara Graça e Teresa Coutinho
Movement support Bruno Huca
Styling Eloisa Correia
Research support Melánie Petremont
Photography Felipe Ferreira, Felipe Drehmer
Produced by Cama A.C Maria Tsukamoto
Coproduced by TNDM II, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, O Espaço do Tempo, Teatro Viriato
It is rare to have the privilege of experiencing a historic moment. When I watched “Aurora Negra” in September 2019 in the studio room of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, I was sure that I was experiencing a unique, celebratory and demanding moment, which would be inscribed in the history of Portuguese theater. Not only because it was the first time that three black creators directed a creation from scratch at the D. Maria II National Theater, but also because of the way Cléo Tavares, Isabél Zuaa and Nádia Yracema approached structural racism, the usual micro-aggressions in black women daily life and the imbalance of history.
The show begins with an appeal to the Portuguese queen born in Rio de Janeiro, Maria da Glória Joana Carlota Leopoldina da Cruz Francisca Xavier de Paula Isidora Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga, to listen and put herself in the shoes of someone who day-to-day always feels foreign in his own country. This appeal made not only in Portuguese, but also in Creole from Guinea and Creole from Cape Verde, is being extended to the entire audience. The viewer is involved and taken on a journey through real experiences lived by the three creators and other black women present in their lives. They talk, shut up, shout, dance, laugh, listen, look us in the eye and, above all, question. The invisibility of black bodies on stage and in society in general is approached with a sublime irony that proposes a balance between the discomfort it causes in the public and the complicity that it requires.
When Cléo, Isabél and Nádia announce “the house is ours”, they do it in their name, in the name of black women and also in our name. It is this artistic battle cry that continues to echo in the audience long after the end of the show. If the house is theirs, the house can be anyone’s. Created within the scope of the Amélia Rey Colaço Grant, an initiative between Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Espaço do Tempo and Teatro Viriato, these were the houses that these artists started by claiming as their own, as if this symbolic occupation would open these stages to many and diverse identities that are not yet sufficiently represented in cultural spaces.
In “Letter to my daughter”, Maya Angelou writes: “All great artists have the same resource: the human heart, which teaches us that we have more similarities than differences”. “Aurora Negra” is proof that Cleo Diára, Isabél Zuaa and Nádia Yracema are part of this reduced lot of great artists.
Magda Bizarro
Mickael de Oliveira was born in France, in 1984, and has lived in Portugal since 1999. In 2013, he got his Ph.D. in contemporary Portuguese and European dramaturgy from the School of Humanities – University of Lisbon, where he is post-doctoral fellow researching the presence of literature in contemporary theatre and dance. In 2008, Mickael founded Colectivo 84, the theatre company for which he develops playwriting and directing projects. His work O que é teu entregou aos mortais was distinguished with the Maria Matos New Playwriting Award (Maria Matos Municipal Theatre, 2007), and Clytemnestra received an Honorable Mention – António José da Silva Prize (D. Maria II National Theatre, Lisbon / FUNARTE, Brazil, 2012). Some of his most recent productions include Oslo–Fuck Them All and Everything Will Be Wonderful (co-created with Nuno M Cardoso, Gil Vicente Academic Theatre, São Luiz Municipal Theatre), The Constitution (2016, Dona Maria National Theatre), and the diptych Socrates Must Die (Socrates’ Death / The Life of John Smith, 2017/2018, Vila Flor Cultural Centre, São Luiz Municipal Theatre, Viriato Theatre, Gil Vicente Academic Theatre. Mickael has served as the artistic director of END – New Dramaturgy Encounters, a project that aims to foster new Portuguese and international playwriting (1st edition at the São Luiz Municipal Theatre, Lisbon, Nov. 2010; 2nd and 3rd editions at the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre, March, Coimbra, 2015/2019). He was Assistant Professor of Arts Administration and Artistic Studies at the School of Education and Humanities (Leiria), guest Lecturer at the School of Theatre and Film Studies (Lisbon), and guest Assistant Professor at the School of Humanities – University of Coimbra. From September 2011 to August 2015, Mickael was Assistant Artistic Director of the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre (Coimbra).
Patrícia Portela is a writer and performance maker born in 1974, living between Belgium and Portugal. She has a BA in set and costume design by the high school of theatre and cinema of Lisbon, a Masters of Arts in scenography and dramaturgy of space from the University of Utrecht and Saint Martins college of art in Antwerp, a post-graduation in theatricality and performativity from APT in Antwerp, a film stage at the European film school in Ebeltoft, Denmark, and a Masters in Philosophy of the University of Leuven, Belgium. Since 2003 she has worked on her own performances and installations in collaboration with international artists. She has achieved national and international recognition for her unusual work and is considered one of the most daring artists and innovative writers of her generation. She won the Revelation Prize in 1994 for her creative work in performance and cinema, the Prize Teatro na Década for T5 in 1999, the Gulbenkian Foundation Prize Madalena de Azeredo Perdigão for the performance Flatland I in 2004 and was one of the 5 finalists of the Sonae Media Art Prize 2015 with her installation Parasomnia, amongst other prizes. She has been invited to participate in the prestigious International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa in 2013 and to be the first Outreach Fellow. She was the first literary resident in Berlin in 2016, sponsored by the Portuguese Embassy in Germany/Instituto Camões. She lectures “dramaturgy and space” and “image” regularly at Universities and cultural centers in Portugal (such as University of Minho or University of Lisbon) and abroad (University of Antwerp, Escola de Escrita in Curitiba, etc). She is the author of several novels, short stories and performances, such as Dias úteis (2016, considered one of the books of the year by several reviewers) or Banquet (finalist at the Novel Prize of APE 2012). She is a chronicle writer for the prestigious Jornal de Letras since 2017 and for the National Radio Antena 1.
Rui Horta was one of the most influencial choreographers of his generation, his work being presented all over the world such as the Theatre de la Ville, that co-produced it for over a decade. He directed S.O.A.P. at the Mousonturm, and created for many companies such as NDT, Cullberg, Geneva, Gotemburg, etc. 
