The upcoming Cumplicidades festival will feature a lineup of approximately two dozen shows, including twelve premieres, eight of which are world premieres, as announced by Eira, an organization established in 1993 and headed by the choreographer Francisco Camacho. The festival, initially launched in 2015, marks its “year zero” this year.
Choreographers Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz were invited to curate the program, which includes resident artists in Portugal along with international performances proposed by Eira for this year’s edition. The festival will also encompass creation labs, classes, audio guides, public space performances, and discussions.
This edition of Cumplicidades, according to the curators, showcases “formats that reveal the different gradations of artistic creation in dance, where the performance is only one of its various manifestations. Gradations could indeed be the subtitle of this edition,” they state in the presentation text released by Eira.
The festival’s opening includes a series of seven short performances, stemming from a research lab that brings together seven artists and five neuroscientists in a novel collaboration between Cumplicidades, the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), and the Champalimaud Foundation. This collaboration focuses on the works of Ana Léon, Jeff Wall, and Rui Moreira, currently exhibited in the museum.
The audience will have access to the dance program and its creation process at different locations including the White Pavilion, Marvila Library, Taborda Theater, Rua das Gaivotas 6, Monsanto Interpretation Center, Jardim da Estrela, Bairro Alto Theater (TBA), and Rossio Train Station.
The schedule features the world premiere of “CatGut Jim” by Connor Scott at the Black Box of the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), the national premiere of “Melodrama Senza Te” by Bruno Brandolino at TBA, the performance “Mandíbula” by choreographer Josefa Pereira, and “Fuck me Blind” by Italian choreographer Matteo Sedda at Black Box CCB.
This edition, held biennially, sees the CCB co-producing the Cumplicidades Festival, where numerous artistic proposals will take place, they indicate.
“Dobrez” by Spanish artist Sabela Mendoza will occur at the Marvila Library Auditorium, while “Rokatei” by the duo Park Keito, comprising Kotomi Nishiwaki from Japan and Miquel Casaponsa from Spain, will be presented at Rua das Gaivotas 6.
Additions to Eira’s selections in the festival include the presentations of the Dance Without Age Laboratory, Jornada 45+, at Taborda Theater, featuring artists over 45 years old, such as Ana Caetano, Carla Sofia, Franscesca Bertozzi, Marina Quay, Marta Coutinho, Sara Paniágua, and Tony Omolu, directed by Francisco Camacho and Diego Lasio.
The festival, dedicated to dance, traditionally invites foreign programmers to attend the performances, offering an opportunity for international exposure, with this year’s guests including Olga Zitluhina (Laiks Dejot Festival, Riga/Latvia), Flávia Tápias (Transit Dance Festival, Rio de Janeiro/Brazil), Sabela Medonza (Ribadavia International Theater Showcase, Galicia/Spain), and Momi Falchi (Fuorimargine, Cagliari/Italy).
Choreographers Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz point out that this festival creates “contexts that bring together people from different areas, including those who have never seen dance, as well as those who are intimately familiar with it.”
Francisco Camacho reflects that the curators’ work at the festival shows “a desire for intimacy with the audience, who can immerse themselves in the intricacies of a stimulating artistic community, enriched by multicultural participation from Eira’s partnerships in the Mediterranean region.”
The festival will continue its dialogue with the visual arts through two performances, one by Inês Melo Campos, “Fazer Ideia,” in relation to a piece by visual artist Fernanda Fragateiro at CCB, and another by Andresa Soares at the White Pavilion (Municipal Galleries of Lisbon), engaging with an exhibition by Francisco Vidal.
This contemporary dance festival further includes an event dedicated to “imagining futures” at the Champalimaud Foundation: “The auditorium, a hub of innovation in neuroscience, will host a platform for artists and scientists to share their projects with the public in ‘Ideas for the Future,’ blending reality with fiction in a sequence of lecture-performances.”
The program also features the “Dance Passport” initiative, running from May 5 to 9, offering free dance classes at various locations across Greater Lisbon, leading up to the start of the Cumplicidades Festival.
