performanceperform

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Andre Uerba_affective choreography_dddfestival 2025

What is difference between dance and performance art? When the body is present, there is a way to choroegraph these bodies so I suppose that all bodily actions can be seen as dance, with or without music. This performance is about intimacy in a minimalistic caontemporary approach. 8 bodies, 4 women and 4 men, laying on the ground, contacting with each other, changing position all over the space. The utilization of the space is to point out that there is no seperation between the audience and teh performance by fostering no hierarchy in terms of 360 degree perspective to watch it. The audience follow the performers by their gaze wherever they go. When the group started to dissolve in different spots on that space, tehy closed their eyes, and with the help of the music, they entered into a trance state while touching themselves and slowly taking out their clothes until they are fully naked. It was the first moment where the audience started to get uncomforatbel and some people left the show. At one point they gathered in line in front of a wall, like they are guilty, tehy turned their backs and fronts, like to exhibit their bodies. Later, they took the textiles where their genitals are printed on it, they made a circle to show their inmate parts in a different format and cretae like an installation type of sculpture. Later on they started to sahre their vulnerabilities about their bodies and sexualities through personal stories. They were in line, waiting each other to share, and I felt that they were really naked in terms of body and soul. After they satrted to touch each other, it became so intense, these smooth feeling, and the music also changes into subtle to harsch with synth to piano, at one point they carried a big ice cube on their bodies, and express their emotions not only through body but also with their face expressions. In the end they were again solo opening their genitals to audience as they accompany to the song. For me it is interesting not only watch this radical act of getting naked, but also how the choreographer worked with local artists each time when he wanted to perform this piece, I was imagining the process of reshearsing, and how he did the creation, what are his motivations… also the most interesting part we were not only watching the performers but the whole audience as well. The title of this performance affective choreograhy was very powerful, after the show I remember that I constantly walking to release that strong emotions related to our bodily consciousness, and taboos against sexuality and even the image of different bodies. I hope we can make a peace with our bodies as it is.

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Jo Castro_Labia_dddfestival2025

The performance is more-than-dance, it is close to performance art by its fragmented nature of the work. there was no beginning or ending. The venue, central Electrica, created a type of atmosphere to enter the world that they created. It is more than performance art and dance it is a world-building through different elements that they brought in that space and explore all together with the audience. I arrived the venue quite earlier, so I explores this huge area containing different industrial spaces later transformed into artspaces or used for other functions. A year ago, I was there to visit a friend's exhibition. While I was waiting outside, sitting on the stairs, Jo and another performer passed in front of me and she said hi to me, it was nice for me to have that type of welcoming attitude, then I remembered once we had a choreographic research class together and worked as pairs 2 years ago. Her energy stayed with me, without nowing that it was her work, I was there waiting to experience her world. Entering the space was kinda weird, which I like a lot, a guy in a rave or clubbing suits, black leather and with sunglasses in a dark room with lots of smoke, cooking and experimenting some stuff with lots of ingrediant, at the same time everybody was moving around because there were 3 people doing different acts and as audience we need to decide where to look or how to move our bodies in the space. one of the performer welcoming us by kissing each participants and another one playing a live set. Lots of objects transformed a huge installation, neon lights are so powerful.. I were close to them and feeling as a part of that group, as a performer, or I wanted to be one of them, it feels so familiar, even o don't define myself as queer or thinking through gender, I am definetly against binary thinking. What they created are so fluid, and in-between, I directly feel connected. It is experimental by nature, they play live, read some poems, sings, moves, getting naked, licking their bodies, sharing the food with us, climbing, in the end they did tatoo to Jo and also they proposed to the audience. It is interactive in a different sense, not direct participation but through sharing the space and creating the act of play together. We were part of the performance. There were some books about gender, decolonization of female and so on, which show also teh standpoint of their approach ot the life and how it affects to their creative research process. Video projection and light plays crucial roles too, but I felt they were vulnerable by being real and putting themselves without any definition only with their presence and acts. I was amazed, and questioned myself why I really like about waht is beyond the definitions, and limits. Going through the limits thats what I want to explore as well.

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Fabio Krayze_Musseque_festival ddd 2025

The name of the performance, Musseque, which means Shantytown, symbolizes neighborhood and realities through the dance style kuduro. When I moved to Portugal, I started to learn different cultures coming from colonization, and kuduro is one of them. I heard it from the first time from my friends but i didn't get what it really is. It is a music and dance style from Angola with a brutal history behind its origin: "Originally designed to pay tribute towards the many disfigured and disabled people within the country due to the deadly civil war that ravaged this state and left landmines throughout the region. The dance is meant not only to pay tribute towards these handicapped individuals, but also incorporate their erratic and jerky movements into the flow of the moves." (Wikipedia) Tony amaro is the founder of this dance style and the choreographer and performer Fabio explained how he interprets this tradition and knowledge as an immigrant to portugal in the diaspora. It is important to remember that in the base of the creative process, the reality of Angolian people and their history is lying. The performance took place in Mala Valores, a venue that I've been for the first time, they use the space circular, with some seats, where in between 4 spots for 4 performers to move, also in and outside these chairs. They strated the performance in a small metal house, where they talked with each other in portuguese(unfortunately i didnt get everything) Somehow I got the feeling of the community and family how it is important to support in this difficult life, everybody one by one started to immigrate but at the same time the harsch reality of the civil war. when the music started, the beat and the rhytm were so powerful, and also the movement and the presence of the dancers covered the whole space. As the space are not that big, when they move, they are rally close to the audience, several times me or others from the audience felt they may touch us. I watched the whole performance smiling and I couldn't stop my body to move with the music and with their energies. It felt like very intimate and real, at the end of the performance, I was almost high with their energy. While leaving the venue, I couldnt walk properly, I was literally amazed how they moved their bodies, very powerful and physcial at the same time, with all the weight and tapping with each others to their bodies and on the ground... I wish to move like that too, their attitude also so cool and the friendship they have is so much fun. I was missing that kind of fun in dance, after all these serious type of artsy works.

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Aina Alegre_Fugace_ddd festival 2025

Centre National Choreographic de Grenoble

It was the opening performance for the festival at teatro Bolhao. The performance was really strong, it started in dark with a black woman dancer appearing with a repetitive movement and slowly the rest of the performers joined her. They were like a gang, standing together in the space with the rhythm, they have tehir own movement language coming from flamenco but at the same time modernized very organically. It dedicated to a flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya, and throughout the performance, on the stage there is two square where one or two can go and put their performance in the spotlight. One of the woman performer playing trombon while dancing form time to time, and the music was really powerful in terms of beat, almost like a techno, so the mixture of tradition and the contemporary are getting well together. They performed without any break, nothing is smooth, the feeling is so strong that I cannot believe how they can continue to dance more than an hour in that rhythm. They used the stage differently too, they used the side stairs to get close to the audience, where we feel their breathing, sweating and their movements more physically. It was very physical, beyond any thought or a story, the performance is about dance and physicality. At the end, the only silent time of the performance where they projected the performance of this important figure of flamenco, Carmen Amaya, how she dances very strongly to honor her soul and her dance.

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During the 2-day workshop, Justine Shoulder, known as Phasmahammer, introduced himself and his works. He took the name from phasma, phantasy from the greek word meaning spirit, and hammer is the tool to deconstruct. He studied visual arts and started to make costumes than interested in performance art and dance. In the meantime, he integrated his Filipino background to form a collective that meats with clubbing culture. More than 10 years, he shared the stage with different people to explore dance, costumes through shows to revival the culture. His main interest is to understand non-western knowledge through imaginary creatures, that is teh reason why the workshop called creature lab, where he asked some questions to understand how is going to be that hybrid form through thoughts and also materials. We used Body Weather technique, to warm up the body. First part is very dynamique, always starting from one point and going linear different movement in repetition for mobility, muscles and joints are very active. Some movements are very basic however they helped us to root ourselves into the ground and to embody physicality. It is a real cardio and after we sit and focus to open one palm and close the other one one milisecond, which means too slow for 5 minutes. That kind of stillness after moving a lot, is a challenge in terms of patience and time perception becuae through our internal shifts we can play with different temporalities. It may be easy for a person and difficult to another, subjectivity. The second day is almost the same with small differences in warm up and after we tried by laying down on the ground and during 5 minutes we tried to evolve into a sitting position, again changing in one milisecond. In the end we researched through our materials to create a creature (similar etymology) by asking the questions. Getting to know this artsit was crucial for me because he is very interesting what his done so far, at the same time his interest is directly related with my reserach subject, more than human world, body weather and clubbing, also very alternative way of thinking, and authentic in terms of his artistic reserach. I believe he has different connections on nature related to aborigines of Australia.

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shannon milanese

day 2: today we started again standing moving, and stretching to the side, rolling on and up. We put the pinky ball on the back side of the foot, and then moving a bit, until the limit of the foot fingers. then we felt the neutral effect on the ground, then to the other side. We positioned cat pose, to move spine in and out, then the twist with one arm on top and then the same arm on the ground as a twist, several times. we did the other side as well, also one leg in front to stretch hip flexor adding the same arm on up, and then going backwards with your hip, and did several times and the opposite directions, too. When you finish go back to the mat, lay down, we put the ball on the end of the spine, first right side, and slowly going down, then, the other side, always neutral position in between exercise, to feel the effect of the exercise through the sensations. we use the yoga block to put at the end of the side, we can move our legs upwards, and then turning on side, while the leg on the down is bending, like a child pose, and the head on the ground as well, there we can open our hip if we want or move smoothly y by listening to the body. then the other side of the hip, also, for the upper body we can put the yoga block at the end of the scapula, to open the chest as well, also we can lay down to the side by putting hands on the grounds, arms stretch(not bending) and trying to stretch side of the body. several times we do roll up between exercises and after that sometimes we felt dizzy so we walk around the space in the room. It is important ot think about fascia that covers the whole body and connected everywhere, it is a connective tissue.

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Steal you for a moment-Meg Stuart & Francisco Camacho (6 march 2025)

I didn’t know exactly what I was going to watch—just two names in my mind. One was very familiar, Meg Stuart, though I had never seen her work live. The second was a Portuguese choreographer I had recently discovered through the Turkish company Çıplak Ayaklar. One of their performances, Taşıdıklarımız, was created in collaboration with this Portuguese choreographer. Luckily, I got to see that show during my first week in Porto.

Meg Stuart also felt familiar to me through Leyla Postaloğlu from Çıplak Ayaklar, who had worked with her company before. So, in a way, both choreographers were connected to the Turkish collective that has inspired me the most. It felt like a must-see. The performance wasn’t on a big stage, which meant a limited audience, but that only made the atmosphere feel more intimate. After watching it, I fully understood why that choice had been made.

The show began with a man arranging wooden geometric forms on a stage marked with lines on the floor and walls, along with scattered sand. At first, I couldn’t quite grasp the set design. The opening was almost robotic—at first, they only made sounds with their voices, and then they slowly started moving. Yet their movements remained stuck, slow, almost nonsensical. At times, this contemplative slowness triggered something in me—there was no clear meaning, and yet I kept watching. The performers, likely in their 60s, captivated me. Their endurance was incredible—they never seemed tired, their presence unwavering.

With such minimal movement, every small gesture became magnified. Their transparency of expression was almost unsettling, as if I were witnessing them in their most vulnerable state. Sometimes, my mind tried to create narratives between these two people—I instinctively leaned toward a love story but then shifted my perspective. Instead, I imagined them as longtime friends, working together, their personalities slowly revealing themselves through movement.

Toward the end, a green light highlighted the contact zones between their bodies and the ground. It felt futuristic yet visually harmonious. The final section was my favorite—from beginning to end, they seemed to transform into something more human, more open to interacting with each other. They faced one another, communicating through sound rather than words, expressing a wide range of emotions. It felt playful, intuitive, and deeply connected, as if they understood each other effortlessly without language.

At one point, they lay on the floor and started a casual, intimate conversation—not about the performance, just as if they were alone. That moment revealed something essential about Meg Stuart’s choreographic approach—how she collaborates, how she designs a piece with experience and playfulness at its core. I imagined her and her co-performer in rehearsals, creating these moments by simply playing together.

I saw a reflection of myself in her. She reminded me of the women in my family—my grandmother, my mother—not just in physical appearance but in her energy, a psychic power almost. A strong presence, almost masculine in a way, yet deeply vulnerable. That vulnerability, in the end, is her greatest strength.

Aesthetically, the movement quality wasn’t necessarily my taste, but that didn’t matter at all. The piece wasn’t about form—it was about feeling.

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Skatepark- Mette Ingvartsen (28 feb 2025)

I found my ticket at the last minute. All of a sudden, while at home, I remembered a performance I had been interested in. When I checked the name, I panicked—it was one of the choreographers I had been wanting to see live. It took some time to buy the ticket online, and then I rushed to catch the show.

By the time I entered the theater, it had already started. A girl with a painted face was singing 2000s pop songs with a rebellious attitude on stage. Skaters were moving around, making noise, while the audience was still finding their seats. It took a while for the performance to take shape as a piece, but the transition was so smooth that we hardly noticed it. Everything felt casual, almost mundane—like watching a group of friends hanging out in their neighborhood, playing around as they always do.

What struck me most was how natural it all felt, especially the set design. It gave the impression of a construction site, much like those you often find in the streets. The lighting, the sloped ground designed for the skaters—it all created a playful atmosphere. The group of performers was large. The first group was already on stage when we entered, then they sat down to watch as another group seamlessly took over. They moved with complete ease, as if they weren’t performing at all but simply existing in their usual way. Their energy filled the entire space.

For an hour and a half, they never stopped—moving around, singing, playing, and competing with each other. The brilliance of the piece lay in its raw, organic nature. It wasn’t just about showing skate culture but embodying it. The skaters weren’t dancers, yet their movement was dance. The choreography wasn’t about form or aesthetic precision but about energy in constant motion, unrestricted and spontaneous. It was radical, yet also a challenge to bring onto the stage. It made me think that the way they take risks give them pleasure. It brings joy to their acts.

Mette Ingvartsen, perhaps deeply familiar with skate culture in Denmark, captured it so well. The structure felt completely organic. In the end, I left the theater feeling as if I had just spent time on the streets, watching a group of skaters having real fun.

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Gry Worre Hallberg (performance artist, researcher)

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https://arthubcopenhagen.net/en/media_item/bureau-for-listening-fragments-for-listening/