Tânia Carvalho, a reference in Portuguese contemporary dance, has a distinctive movement language and a unique sense of depth translated into works that defy classification and excel in composition.
- O ESPAÇO DO TEMPO
Writing about my work is like writing about the depths of my being. That’s why I say, “I’m not good with words.” Not when I want to show through them the depths of my heart. Translate it. I feel strange.
I decided to call the piece VERSA-VICE (the vice versa of vice versa) because when creating a piece I say: “the play is about this and that…”. But it could also be about its opposite. Its mirror. Or about anything else that is there, for even a second, while you see, listen, dance, or remember it… That second is just as valid as the entire creation process. It can even have more strength, more impact within us. A second of glimpse. A second that makes us change direction, or provokes us to something else, even if we don’t notice it.
BIO & CREDITS
TÂNIA CARVALHO. Best known as a choreographer, with a career spanning over 20 years, Tânia also works in other artistic fields, such as music, drawing and film, both in Portugal and abroad. Creating for other companies, her choreography work includes pieces for the Lyon Opera Ballet (Xylographie), the Company of Elders in London (I Walk, You Sing), the National Ballet of Portugal (S), the Paulo Ribeiro Company (How will I do this?), and Dançando com a Diferença
(Doesdicon), Ballet National de Marseille (one of four periods in time, ellipsis), among many others. Tânia Carvalho has been developing several musical projects, of which stand out Madmud, Idiolecto and dubloc barulin. In 2018, she directed A Bag and a Stone – dance piece for screen, her first film. In 2021, Tânia Carvalho formed, with musician and performer Matthieu Ehrlacher, the duo Papillons d’éternité. Since then, they created and presented Concerto, Greta Oto and LYROPTERYX APPOLLONIA. Within the scope of France-Portugal Season 2022, the Théâtre de la Ville dedicated a special focus to Tânia Carvalho’s work, presenting many of her pieces in Paris throughout the year. Tânia Carvalho was awarded with the Young Creators Award 2000, with Inicialmente Previsto, and received the Prémio Autores from the Portuguese Society of Authors, for Icosahedron (2012) and Onirorauta (2021).
Choreography and Artistic Direction: Tânia Carvalho
Interpretation: Andriucha, Beatriz Marques Dias, Bruno Senune, Catarina Carvalho, Cláudio Vieira, Filipe Baracho, Luís Guerra, Matthieu Ehrlacher, Nina Botkay
Voice: Tânia Carvalho
Poem: Fernando Pessoa
Light and Technical Direction: Anatol Waschke
Audio Production and Sound Design: Juan Mesquita
Music: Tânia Carvalho
Costumes: Cláudio Vieira and Tânia Carvalho
Master Seamstress: Rosário Balbi
Executive Direction: Vítor Alves Brotas
Administration & Finances: Janine Lages
Communication and Press Office: Maria João Bilro
Photography: Rui Palma
Video: Christo Roussev
Booking: Colette de Turville
Logistics: Leonardo Garibaldi
Production: Agência 25
Co-Production: Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos – Culturgest (Portugal), Estúdio 25 (Portugal), Julidans Amsterdam (Países Baixos), La Briqueterie – CDCN du Val-de-Marne / Biennale de Danse du Val-de-Marne (França), Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix – Hauts-de-France dans le cadre du dispositif Accueil-Studio (França), Teatro Municipal do Porto – Rivoli e Campo Alegre / DDD – Festival Dias da Dança (Portugal), Théâtre Jacques Carat Cachan (França), Theatro Circo (Portugal), Teatro Viriato (Portugal).
Partnerships: Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente / Convento de São Francisco / Abril Dança em Coimbra (Portugal).
Co-Production Residencies: Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos – Culturgest (Portugal), Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix – Hauts-de-France dans le cadre du dispositif Accueil-Studio (França), O Espaço do Tempo (Portugal).
Support: República Portuguesa – Cultura | DGARTES 2021-22 (Estúdio 25), Câmara Municipal de Lisboa – Polo Cultural Gaivotas | Boavista, Casa-Atelier – Fundação Arpad Szenes – Vieira da Silva, Forum Dança, Loja das Maquetas.
Thank you to Chá de Agulhas – Susana Oliveira, Maria Manuela da Silva Alves
Rui Horta started dancing at the age of 17 at Ballet Gulbenkian. He studied, taught and performed in New York for several years. In 1990, he founded the S.O.A.P Dance Theater Frankfurt, where he created, over 7 years, six programs which toured all over the world. From 1998 to 2000 he worked in Munich, at the Muffathalle, where he created “Bones & Oceans”, “Zeitraum” and “Blindspot”. In August 2000, he returned to Portugal (Montemor-o-Novo), where he founded the multidisciplinary center for research and creation O Espaço do Tempo.
Patrícia Portela is a writer and performance maker born in 1974, living between Belgium and Portugal. She studied set and costume design in Lisbon and in Utrecht where she made her master of arts, she has studied film in Ebeltoft at the European Film College, Denmark, and has a master in Philosophy from the International Institute of Leuven, Belgium. She is a founder member of the Prado cultural association since 2003 and a curator at the collective editions Prado since 2008. Patrícia Portela writes chronicles for Jornal de Letras, Jornal do Centro and Coffeepaste. She was the Artistic Director of Teatro Viriato from March 2020 to February 2022.
