Of ivory and flesh – statues also suffer: Performance by Marlene Monteiro Freitas

Marlene Monteiro Freitas is co-founder of the Compass dance group, and the Lisbon-based production company, P.O.R.K. Her work explores notions of openness, impurity, and intensity. Upon completing her dance studies at P.A.R.T.S (Brussels), E.S.D and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon), she developed We Will Not Have Dance Classes We Will Rehearse, a project in collaboration with the Cova Da Moura community in Lisbon. Other works include Paradise – private collection (2012-2013); (M)imosa (2011), a project developed with Trajall Harell, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea; Guintche (2010); A Seriedade do Animal (2009-2010); Uns e Outros (2008); A improbabilidade da Certeza (2006); Larvar (2006); and Primeira Impressão (2005). Monteiro Freitas has worked with Emanuelle Huynn, Loïc Touzé, Tãnia Carvalho, and Boris Charmatz, among others.

Drawing on the myth of Pygmalion and Alain Resnais and Chris Marker’s Les Statues Meurent Aussi (Statues Also Die), Monteiro Freitas’ dance performance explores, through the event of a ball, the entanglement of notions of visibility, mobility, animation, resurrection, the image and its double, the icon… The ball is a luminous-obscure occasion, thought to be a receptacle for ghosts, which harbors in its nature much of life and death. Choreography: Marlene Monteiro Freitas. Performed by: Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Andreas Merk, Betty Tchomanga, Lander Patrick, Cookie (percussion), Tomás Moital (percussion), Miguel Filipe (percussion). Light and space: Yannick Fouassier. Live music: Cookie (percussion), Tiago Cerqueira (editing and sound). Research: João Francisco Figueira, Marlene Monteiro Freitas. Distribution: Key Performance (Stockholm). Production: P.O.R.K (Lisbon). Co-Production: O Espaço do Tempo (Montemor-o-Novo), Alkantara Festival (Lisbon), Maria Matos Teatro Municipal (Lisbon), Bomba Suicida (Lisbon, with the support of DGArtes, Portugal), CNN (Rillieux-la-Pape), Musée de la danse (Rennes), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Festival Montpellier Danse 2014 (Montpellier), ARCADI (Paris), CDC Toulouse/Midi-Pyrénnées (Toulouse), Théâtre national de Bordeaux en Aquitaine (Bordeaux), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), WP Zimmer (Antwerp), NXTSTP (with the support of the EU Culture Programme); with the support of ACCCA - Companhia Clara Andermatt (Lisbon). Acknowledgements: Staresgrime (PT), Dr. Ephraim Nold.