Festival Materiais Diversos 2012: Portugal In Brazil, Brazil In Portugal

In its fourth edition, Festival Materiais Diversos makes its first stopover in Brazil. From 14 to 29 September, 13 Portuguese artists and nine Brazilian artists bring body, movement, dramaturgy and music to Alcanena, Minde and Torres Novas, with a total of 15 projects. In the year of Portugal in Brazil and of Brazil in Portugal, Festival Materiais Diversos addresses other facts and figures.

The sewing machines are part of the choreographic concert that is Marlene Monteiro Freitas’s idea of paradise. The pre-premiere of Paraíso – Colecção Privada, opens the festival in Minde on September 14th. Brazilian choreographers Cristian Duarte, Denise Stutz and Ângelo Madureira & Catarina Vieira premiere their latest work in Portugal.

100 choreographers are evoked in Cristian’s kaleidoscopic solo, travelling through the last century of contemporary dance (HOT 100 – The hot one hundred choreographers). The duo Ângelo Madureira & Ana Catarina Vieira work from 1800 photographs of their previous pieces in Baseado em Fatos Reais. Denise presents her own personal history of dance with particular emotion, sharing the afternoon programme with Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, Materiais Diversos’s newest associate artists. Their Fora de qualquer presente, closes the dance portion of the festival.

The theatre programming includes two of the most important figures in new Brazilian dramaturgy; Felipe Rocha and Alex Casal present Ninguém falou que seria fácil with the humour, irony and playful language characteristic of Felipe Rocha’s texts. In Dulce, Brazilian and Portuguese directors and performers Flávia Gusmão, Michel Blois, Nuno Gil and Thiare Maia are two couples that explore the fragile boundary between the cultural similarities and differences of the two countries.

As the year of Portugal in Brazil/Brazil in Portugal takes off, the rectangular discussion focuses on strategies for cooperation between Portugal and Brazil. REDE/Association of contemporary dance organizations in Portugal collects contributions from professionals for a discussion about festival as a vehicle of culture.

Festival Materiais Diversos 2012, 14th until 29th September, Minde, Alcanena, Torres Novas, Portugal. www.materiaisdiversos.com

Credits:

1. Penthesilia, dança solitária para uma heroína apaixonada, Martim Pedroso. Courtesy Festival Materiais Diversos.
2. Ninguém falou que seria fácil, Foguetes Maravilha. Courtesy Festival Materiais Diversos.
3. HOT 100 – The hot one hundred choreographers. Cristian Duarte. Courtesy Festival Materiais Diversos.
4. MelTe, Ana Rita Teodoro. Courtesy Festival Materiais Diversos.
5. Fora de qualquer presente, Sofia Dias + Vítor Roriz. Courtesy Festival Materiais Diversos.