The documentary “Olga Roriz”, about the life and work of the dancer and choreographer who ranks among the most important in contemporary Portuguese dance, has its premiere today at the São Carlos Theater in Lisbon, signed by director Cristina Ferreira Gomes.
Produced by Mares do Sul and directed and scripted by Cristina Ferreira Gomes, the documentary is written by Luiz Antunes and is the result of two years of filming that followed the process of creating the show “Pas d’Agitation” and its premiere in Paris in 2022, according to the production.
“Olga Roriz”, described as an “intimate journey through the creative and intense worlds” of the choreographer, will be premiered today at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, at 6:30 p.m., with free admission, in the presence of the creator, and will be broadcast on RTP2 on Friday.
The long shooting period allowed Cristina Ferreira Gomes – who has also signed a documentary about the choreographer Vera Mantero, in 2023, and is due to release another this year about Clara Andermatt – to get close to the choreographer and make an intimate film about the life and work of Olga Roriz, passing through different geographies, namely the Azores, Lisbon, Évora and Paris.
Olga Roriz’s dance, theater and video repertoire consists of more than 90 works, including her most recent ones – “The Hour We Knew Nothing About Each Other” (2023), “Of This World and the Other” (2022), “My Story Is Not the Same as Yours”, performed by inmates, “Six Months Later” (2020), and “Autopsy” – which, like most of her productions, have been performed across the country.
Roriz has created and restaged pieces for Ballet Gulbenkian, Companhia Nacional de Bailado, Ballet Teatro Guaira (Brazil), Ballets de Monte Carlo, Ballet Nacional de España, English National Ballet, American Reportory Ballet and Alla Scala in Milan (Italy).
Born in Viana do Castelo in 1955, Olga Roriz studied classical ballet and modern dance with Margarida Abreu and Ana Ivanova, joined the Lisbon National Conservatory Dance School and became a prima ballerina with the Gulbenkian Ballet, where she was later invited to choreograph.
In 1995, she created the Olga Roriz Company, which is currently housed in the Pancas Palha Palace, on loan from Lisbon City Council.
Her dance repertoire also includes the plays “Pedro e Inês”, “Inferno”, “Start and Stop Again”, “Private Property”, “Electra”, “The Eyes of Gulay Cabbar”, “Nortada”, “Jump-Up-And-Kiss-Me”, “Pets”, “The Rite of Spring”, “Before They Kill the Elephants” and “Syndrome”.
She was awarded the insignia of the Order of Infante D. Henrique (2004), the Grand Prize of the Portuguese Society of Authors (2008) and the Latinity Prize (2012), among others.
Contemporary dance has been a regular theme in the documentary work of Cristina Ferreira Gomes and Luiz Antunes, a mutual interest that has deepened since the production of the 16-part documentary series “Portugal que Dança”.
