Dance – Theatro Circo

Balanchine/Naharin

mariana.volz@fazcultura.pt — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 11:14:10 +0000

The National Ballet Company arrives at Theatro Circo with an exceptional programme that celebrates the richness and diversity of contemporary dance. Bringing together two fundamental choreographic visions, the evening presents a bridge between the classical and the avant-garde.

On stage, George Balanchine’s rigorous inventiveness comes to life in Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Created in 1972, this emblematic work by the pioneer of the neoclassical style invites us to “see the music and hear the dance” in a sublime dialogue between the choreography and Stravinsky’s score. Alongside this historic piece is the audacity of Minus 16 by Ohad Naharin. This striking contemporary creation stands out for its eclectic score (from Dean Martin to techno), improvisation and Naharin’s acclaimed Gaga method. Born from the reorganisation of previous works, Minus 16 is a work that confirms Naharin’s ability to engage the audience, leading them to dance and highlighting the plurality of dance on the same stage.

Zona Franca: Está Visto

mariana.volz@fazcultura.pt — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 09:59:33 +0000

A dancer who couldn’t dance, a singer who couldn’t sing, an actor who couldn’t act, a writer who couldn’t write, a painter who couldn’t paint. A dancer who sang, a writer who painted, an actor who wrote. One had to know how to do in order to know how to be. As long as the fine lines that separate being from doing, the self from action, the thing from the subject, remain blurred, something remains unfit and dysfunctional. A monster that does not fulfil its function.
— João dos Santos Martins, 2022

The Zona Franca cycle welcomes Está Visto (2023), a show resulting from a collaboration between João dos Santos Martins, pianist and composer Joana Sá, and visual artist Ana Jotta. Based on the song cycle Dichterliebe [Poet’s Love(s)], composed by Robert Schumann in 1840, the piece is presented in recital format, seeking to have the practices of singing, piano and dance interact and overflow into one another. The romantic songs, with poetry by Heinrich Heine, speak of unrequited love. This lack of reciprocity is reproduced in choreographic ideas that disarticulate language, fracturing gesture with the lyrics of the songs, sound and listening in a body in transition.

Supracasa: Adoçar

mariana.volz@fazcultura.pt — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:58:55 +0000

Where I come from, people often use or used to use the word ‘sweeten’ as a synonym for washing. ‘Have you sweetened yourself yet? Go and sweeten yourself!’ I think this beautiful comparison comes from the idea of removing salt and sweat from the body, making it sweet, and using equally sweet water to do so. This piece serves as an exercise in pure observation. In this way, I create a dance focused solely on the body and its movement. Sweetening explores the idea of cleansing. Of creating space that gives rise to availability. Availability to observe a body.
— Ana Isabel Castro

Ana Isabel Castro has a degree from the Lisbon Dance School and attended FAICC – Advanced Training in Choreographic Interpretation and Creation at Companhia Instável. She has worked alongside artists such as Esther Balfe, Saju Hari, Georg Blaschke, Jonathan Uliel Saldanha and Joclécio Azevedo. She has created pieces such as Marengo (2019), Iceberg (2021) and Pechisbeque (2023), and was the first winner in the Dance category of the Coliseu Porto Ageas Young Artists Award.