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ÔSS

Marlene Monteiro Freitas for Cia. Dançando com a Diferença

ÔSS is the powerful encounter between choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas and a company for inclusive dance, Dançando com a Diferença. Together, they have created a poetic and anarchic dance manifesto, an experience that transcends all boundaries.

Ôss is the Creole word for bone. The word also resembles the expression ‘oss’, common to karate practitioners, that refers to concepts like pressing, pushing and supporting. In this piece for nine performers, including six dancers, Freitas explores the hard and soft aspects of the body, from the skeleton and intestines to the skin.

The work of the Cape Verdean Marlene Monteiro Freitas balances the grotesque with the magical, combining different traditions and influences: contemporary dance, hip hop, classical music, samba, circus, film and pop culture. With this piece, in collaboration with Madeira’s Dançando com a Diferença, Freitas shows how people’s greatest strengths lie in their unique characteristics. The group of charismatic performers epitomise Dançando com a Diferença’s motto: ‘dance with our bodies, not despite our bodies.’

Marlene Monteiro Freitas:
‘What interests us in this piece is the bone as a keeper of ancient secrets that reveals anatomical orientations and gives structure to the soft and fragile parts. We are building a strong skeleton where the foot serves as the brain, the heart serves as an elbow and the knees are a liver and an ear. This is possible for us, of course, as the difference between hard and soft matters little.’

dates

Fri June 9 2023 8:30 PM

Sat June 10 2023 8:30 PM

Prices

  • default € 28
  • CJP/student/scholar € 12

language & duration

  • 1 hour 25 minutes

  • © Júlio Silva Castro

  • © Joana Caetano

  • © Júlio Silva Castro

  • Marlene Monteiro de Freitas, choreographer

    © Peter Hönnemann

credits

choreography Marlene Monteiro Freitas choreographic assistant Hsin-Yi Hsiang performers Bárbara Matos, Bernardo Graça, Joana Caetano, Maria João Pereira, Mariana Tembe, Paulo Sérgio BEJu, Rui João Costa, Sara Rebolo, Telmo Ferreira light design Yannick Fouassier scenography Yannick Fouassier light operator Jean-Marc Ségalan sound design Rui Antunes sound engineer Flavio Martins stage manager Eugénio Cabral, José Gregório Rojas costumes Marlene Monteiro Freitas soundtracks Richard Strauss, Rui Pedro Viaes, Rocha Antunes, Franz Peter Schubert, Rihanna, Buttechno coproduction CENDREV–Teatro Garcia Resende production Dançando com a Diferença, P.OR.K, collaborators P.OR.K, Associates P.OR.K, Soraia Gonçalves, Joana Costa Santos artistic direction Henrique Amoedo (Dançando com a Diferença) assistant director Diogo Gonçalves executive production Nuno Simões production & support Cláudia Nunes, José Gregório Rojas, Milton Branco