The cities of Braga, Guimarães, Barcelos and Vila Nova de Famalicão host, between today and Saturday, the international festival of contemporary circus Vaudeville Rendez-Vous, with a total of 11 shows.
This year’s edition will feature an absolute premiere by the Portuguese company Radar 360º, on Thursday, and four Portuguese premieres of productions from France, Spain and Belgium, for a total of 11 contemporary circus shows.
The more than two dozen performances, which will take place on the streets of the four cities, are joined by training workshops and a parallel program dedicated to Portuguese and foreign artists, students and cultural agents.
Festival Vaudeville Rendez-Vous ’23 from Teatro da Didascália on Vimeo.
On the first day, the cities host the Juggling Lab, with Hugo Maciel (Guimarães), “Principles of Aerials”, with Sage Bachtler Cushman (Braga) and “Movimentado”, by André Araújo (Barcelos).
When presenting this ninth edition of the festival in June, the organizers, Bruno Martins and Cláudia Berkeley, from Teatro da Didascália, stressed that Vaudeville Rendez-Vous aims, “through circus and street arts”, to think “the state of the world”.
In this year’s edition, Teatro da Didascália bet, for the programmatic contents, on the rewriting of a series of shows that passed through the initiative in previous editions and in other contexts of national programming.
“The 2023 edition will thus be marked by the revisiting of several works that are the culmination of reflection processes by various artists and companies. An example of this is the absolute premiere of the show ‘Solos a 180º’ – by the Portuguese company Radar 360º -, which has as its motto for this new creation the scenographic structure of a previous show “, according to the organization.
This national creation can be seen, for the first time, at 19:00, on July 20, at Praça de Pontevedra, in Barcelos, and on July 22, at 11:00, in the Garden of the Biscainhos Museum, in Braga.
Also noteworthy are national premieres of French, Spanish and Belgian productions.
The French company Le Doux Supplice will present the show “En Attendant Le Grand Soir”, “which promises to defy gravity itself, revealing moments of dance and acrobatics”. This performance is scheduled for 22:00, on July 19, at Largo do Pópulo, in Braga, and for July 22, at Praça D. Maria II, in Famalicão.
From Spain comes “Runa” – a creation of the company Cia 104 de Amer Kabbani – “which, among the ruins of a World on Fire, appears on stage as a witness to a necessary process of personal and collective reconstruction”. “Runa” can be seen at 22:00, on July 20, in the courtyard of the Paço dos Duques de Guimarães, in Guimarães, and at the same time, the next day, in the Polidesportivo da Quinta do Aparício, in Barcelos.
Also coming from Spain, Manolo Alcântara will present “Maña”, “a show in which the concept is ingenuity and will ‘carry the heart on the sleeve’ from the beginning”. The creation debuts at 22:00, on July 20, at Praça Municipal de Braga, passing through Praça D. Maria II, in Famalicão, at 22:00, on July 21 and, the next day, at the same time, can be seen at the Platform for Arts and Creativity, in Guimarães.
“Grasshopers”, by the Belgian company Circus Kaoten, can be seen on July 20, in Guimarães, the next day in Braga and, on July 22, in Famalicão.
