The new creation by choreographer and performer Daniel Matos, ‘The Stone, The Sorrow’, presented on September 2 in Pula, Croatia, has been recognized by the jury for its “profound artistic integrity, expressive power, and creative courage,” according to a statement from the show’s producer.
Premiering in Portugal at the Teatro das Figuras in 2024 and internationally at the 31st PUF Festival, ‘The Stone, The Sorrow’, which was part of the Portuguese Platform of Performing Arts in Montemor-o-Novo, draws from observations of abandoned quarries in Portugal, proposing “a parallel between landscape erosion and the disintegration of family structures,” the producers emphasize.
“Positioning itself on the borderline between the public and the private, the work leads the viewer to a mythological space of welcome and disruption, where bucolic tenderness and the sensuality of the profane merge,” commented the jury about the piece by the Lagos-born artist in 1996.
For the Croatian festival jury, it is “a piece that fuses artistic precision with raw intimacy, opening space for deep reflection.”
“Using the body as a witness and rhetorical tool that resonates more strongly than words, Daniel Matos intensifies the emotional impact of universal human experiences through his aesthetic minimalism,” added the jury, highlighting the visual quality of the work that “evokes a pseudo-pastoral image of strong symbolic power, remaining in memory.”
‘The Stone, The Sorrow’ features performers Lia Vohlgemuth, Elia Pangaro, and Joana Simões, supported by an original soundtrack inspired by Debussy, composed by João Galante aka Coolgate.
The artistic collaboration and visuals for the piece are the responsibility of João Catarino, with lighting design and technical direction by Manuel Abrantes and Ana Carocinho, in a production by CAMA cultural association with producers Joana Flor Duarte and Diana Martins.
