Creations

Choreography: Márcia Haydée
Music: Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) and Norberto Macedo (1939-2011)
Lightning: José Luiz Fiorruccio
Costume: Tânia Agra
Scenario: Hélio Euchbauer, with eight drawing images of Candido Portinari (1903-1962) (The rights of the arts’s reproduction were kindly provided by João Candido Portinari)

It is a colorful, vibrant an humor work. The ballet tells the adventures of Don Quixote, a visionary dreamer who is willing to fight “the error, the false and the evil of a thousand faces” and find your perfect lady Dulcineia, and the story of the almost impossible love of Kitri and Basile, as she was promised by her father to Gamache, a wealthy merchant. Peasants, bullfighters and gypises help to compose the work. With the complicity of Don Quixote, the marriage of love is realized and is celebrated by all. Don Quixote is one of the most popular ballets in the world. The Marcia Hayde’s special version for São Paulo Dance Company retains some recognizable moments of the original work – created by Marius Petipa (1818-1910), in 1869 and inspired by a chapter of the work of Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), with music composed by Ludwig Minkus, with a new set design made by Hélio Euchbauer with Candido Portinari’s drawings, Tânia Agra’s costumes, lighting by José Luiz Fiorruccio, Norberto Macedo’s music compositions and poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade.

Choreography, stage design and costume: Clébio Oliveira
Original music: Matresanch
Lightning: Mirella Brandi

Céu Cinzento, by Clébio Oliveira, addresses the eternal theme of impossible love present in our collective imagination and represented in works such as Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The choreography is inspired by this story and asks: how would the course of the tragedy play out if the lovers stayed blind instead of dying? “In the work, the tragic end of the lovers gives way to the new version and, within this perspective; the pair is lost in a kind of maze and desperately trying to find their way. The play brings out the need to move towards a more integrative understanding of the senses”, says the choreographer.

Choreography: Cassi Abranches
Original soundtrack: Marcelo Jeneci and Zé Nigro
Lightning: Gabriel Pederneiras
Costume: Janaina de Castro
Choreography Assistant: Ana Paula Cançado

Cassi Abranches uses the body memories and the impulses of the soundtrack composed by Marcelo Jeneci and Zé Nigro to create GEN. “The work highlights my switching of being on stage to become a choreographer. I still have the physical references from the period of time I danced at Grupo Corpo, although I search for my own references in each creation. I invited for the creative process people of my generation to start a new time. It’s about start, beginning and resumption”, says the choreographer.

Choreography and costume: Rafael Gomes*
Remixed soundtrack: Dj Hisato with temas de The End, by Jim Morrison, The Solo Tempist, by Vic Firth and Take Five, by Paul Desmond
Lightning: Wagner Freire
Set design: Kleber Matheus

* The dancers wear Alexandre Herchcovitch collection

Inspired by the photographs of Otto Dix and images of the 50’s, Rafael Gomes created Bingo!, for the SPDC. “The work is a clandestine casino that reveals different characters and situations, such as a woman dressed up and a couple in a fight, violence and forbidden sex. The dancers are part of the game of bingo that are randomly chosen,” says the choreographer. At the sound of rock, jazz and funk played by timpani remixed by Hisato, neon lights created by Kleber Matheus and the ambience of Wagner Freire create different sensations that overpass the play. The dancers wear collection by Alexandre Herchcovitch, chosen by the choreographer.

Choreography and Lightning: Édouard Lock
Music: The Seasons, Gavin Bryars, published by Schott Music Ltd, and performed by Percorso Ensemble, directed by Ricardo Bologna
Costume design: Liz Vandal (women), Édouard Lock (men)
Set: Armand Vaillancourt

The images created by Édouard Lock in The Seasons revive the sense of dance memory. In the scene it is possible to observe several layers which interact with one another – dance, music, set and light – and create new relations, not only to those who watch it, but also to those present in the scene. Each gesture has its correspondent in light, which cuts the space as if it edited lively what is being watched, the gestures swing between strong and smooth movements, slowness and intense speed permeate the scenes, in the speed of thought, misleading our perception.

Choreography: Ana Vitória
Original soundtrack: Jorge Peña and Célio Barros
Lightning: Wagner Freire
Costume: Sonia Ushiyama
Choreography Assistant: Renata Costa
Composition Assistant: Natália Fagá
Scenario and videos: Carmen Luz
Scenario Development: Marcos Arruzzo and Alvaro Souza
Video editing: Guido Marcondes and Carmen Luz
Video: Alexandre Robatto

Inspired by the movie Vadiação (1954), by Alexander Robatto, Ana Victoria created Vadiando, work driven by capoeira in dialogue with elements of contemporary dance. Movie scenes permeate the work redefining the bodies, space and time. “This was the first dance movie and I watched and, with it, I rethought about my body and identity. In order to choreograph, I always start from something more biographical and today, 59 years after its release, this movie allows me to go beyond its object”, says the choreographer.

Choreography and dramaturgy: Giovanni Di Palma
Music: Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Lightning: Udo Haberland
Costume and scenario: Jérôme Kaplan
Dramaturgy: Nadja Kadel

Romeo and Juliet, the classic tragedy by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), comes to life in the body of the dancers from São Paulo Dance Company in a version specially created by Italian choreographer Giovanni Di Palma. Under the music of Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), the piece is divided into two acts and ten scenes and tells the story of young Romeo and Juliet, whose deaths ultimately unite the Montague and Capulet families, once rivals. The tragic story of love and hate between their families remain timeless and delights audiences all over the world.

Choreography: Luiz Fernando Bongiovanni
Music: Ponteios (Ponteio 18, nostálgico; Ponteio 26, la calma; Ponteio 24, tranquila; Ponteio 15, incisivo and Ponteio 1, la calma), by Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993)
Lightning: Ligia Chaim
Costume: Naum Alves de Souza and Miko Hashimoto
Scenario: Soraya Kölle and Dilson Tavares (TKCeno Cenografia e Produçõess)

In Utopia ou o Lugar que Não Existe, Luiz Fernando Bongiovanni criticizes the way beauty is associated with futile and alienation, in parallel with a universe without utopias. In the ballet development, he selected five Ponteios from Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993), which reflects the emotional states he sought to the play, by bringing a typical Brazilian feature to it, influenced by themes and gestures of folk music characterized on stage by a solo, a trio and a duo, providing different meanings to the scene. The scenery and costumes mirror and mark the space in black and white.

Choreography and costume: Marco Goecke
Music: Simple Symphony, by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), H.Y.V.Ä and Sininen javalkoinen, with coral Mieskuoro Huutajat
Lightning: Udo Haberland
Dramaturgy and organization: Nadja Kadel
Costume execution: Thomas Lampertz
Production Associação Pró-Dança/São Paulo Dace Company and coproduction Moviments Festwochen der Autostad (Wolfsburg/Germany)

In Peekaboo, the German choreographer Marco Goecke deals with the act of hiding and revealing in an exciting way. The title refers to a childish game well known to children: the person peeks, hides his/her face and suddenly reappears and says, ‘found’ or ‘boo’. In the work, Britten’s symphony combined with the sound of the Finnish choir Huutajat, shows contrasts: while talking about fantasy, it brings out the fears and loneliness of each dancer. The cast alternates in solos, duos, trios and ensembles, the movement is fast and accurate and the performers mysteriously appear and disappear from the scene. “Everything is a matter to be lost and found”, says the choreographer.

Choreography: Jomar Mesquita with collaboration of Rodrigo de Castro
Music: Te amaré e Después, by Silvio Rodrigues, No se Nada, by Rodrigo Leão, Tema Final, by Cris Scabello and As rosas não falam (Cartola and Grupo Planetangos)
Lightning: Joyce Drummond
Costume: Cláudia Schapira
Duration/cast: 21 minutes with 8 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2012 | Teatro Geo, São Paulo/SP – Brazil

A look shared by two people. Both wishing the other to make a move for something to happen. However, none of them moves. This is the meaning of Mamihlapinatapai, a word originally from the indigenous language Yaghan, from the Tribe of Tierra del Fuego. Choreographer Jomar Mesquita uses deconstructed elements of ballroom dance to create this work, with movements that deal with the relationship of desire between men and women.

Choreography: Rui Moreira
Music: Rui Moreira and Lobi Traoré
Lightning: Domingos Quintiliano
Costume design: Eduardo Ferreira
Choreography Assistant: Bete Arenque
Graphic design: Guili Seara
Graphic design Assistant: Juarez Tanure

Rui Moreira signs Azougue, which has characteristics of African-Brazilian culture marked by the timbre and loudness of the drums. “Azougue is a term with many meanings, but the expression I used was that of peculiar cunning, from the Northeast region of the country. It is the person who is restless, who cannot be beat, who has a higher vibration than normal”, says the director of the Company Será Quê?, of Belo Horizonte. “I also used the relationship of azougue with the rural maracatu (folk music from the Northeast of Brazil), in which caboclos de lança (folk figure of the State of Pernambuco) used an energy drink with gunpowder made with cachaça and a herb called azougue to withstand the ‘thud’ of Carnival and the weight of the clothes”, the choreographer explains.

Choreography: Alex Neoral
Music: Andante de la Sonata No. 2 and Sarabande de Partita No. 1, for violin solo, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Lightning: Binho Schaefer
Costume: André Vytall
Choreography Assistant: Clarice Rêgo

Alex Neoral created Pormenores (Details), a ballet marked by the details of the movements about Andante from Sonata No. 2 for solo violin and Sarabande from Partita No. 1 for solo violin, by Johan Sebastian Bach (1887-1959). “In this work, we work with duos, the levers and their outbreaks, which are a strong feature of my work and that I could share with the dancers of the Company”, Neoral says, who is the Artistic Director of Focus Companhia de Dança, in Rio de Janeiro. “The work is intimate and appreciates the proximity of the performers”.

Choreography: Rodrigo Pederneiras
Music: Bachianas Brasileiras nº1, by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Lightning: Gabriel Pederneiras
Costume: Maria Luiza Malheiros Magalhães
Choreography Assistant: Ana Paula Cançado

Inspired by Bachianas Brasileiras #1, by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Rodrigo Pederneiras created Bachiana # 1, play in which dance responds to the intimate structure of the music. The choreography, which is divided into three movements, evidences the Brazilianness, the romance and passion of our people. The cellos that follow each part of the song translate the gesture itself, and from this tuning between sound and movement is when the work comes, earning special accents on the body of each performer. In Bachiana #1, the versatility of the dancers brings new emphasis to Pederneiras’ language.

Choreography and Lightning: Henrique Rodovalho
Music: André Abujamra
Costume: Cássio Brazil
Scenario: Shell Jr.
Scenario execution: FCR | Fábio Brando

In Inquieto (restless) Henrique Rodovalho presents three aspects of restlessness. Three characters share the scene and little by little reveal their restlessness to the world: one veiled, apparently still, that reveals itself in small, almost uncontrolled movements; the other is as determined as a straight line that crosses the stage; and another that can be translated into movement: the body and its different articulations, connections and singularities expanded in the space. In the course of the performance, the third character multiplies itself by ten: his movements are multiplied; they go through distinct interpreters, as if they were one, and at the same time they show the human restlessness, creating new structures and repetitions with changes. The body image in the space is complete with Shell Jr’s scenery trace, permanently building the scene. The lighting also creates space, cutting the stage and specially emphasizing some moments of the performance. The trace in Cassio Brazil’s costumes emphasizes shades and parts of the body and the music by André Abujamra creates the atmosphere and reveals the dynamic of the act. Immobility and movement, shade and light, straight and winding lines; all this contrast in the scene instigate our curiosity in relation to the space and its possibilities and the inventions reveal a little of our everyday apprehension.

Choreography: Maurício de Oliveira
Music: André Abujamra
Lightning: Wagner Freire
Director of costume: Jum Nakao
Creation and execution of costume: Bruna Valente, Joceli Oliveira, Juliana Zampini, Patricia Maria Grossi and Roberto Slursarz Filho

The main theme of Maurício de Oliveira’s creation for the São Paulo Dance Company is the image of the dancer, which multiplies throughout the performance. It is the double of each one, of the other, and of the group, which establishes ambiguous relationships. The artists are co-creators of the strategies presented throughout the performance, and their choreographic signature is recognized in the movement and dialog with costume designer Jum Nakao, and the music specially composed by André Abujamra.

Choreography: Daniela Cardim
Music: Marcelo Petraglia, Hermelino Neder, Mário Manga and André Mehmari
Lightning: Domingos Quintiliano
Costume: Ronaldo Fraga

Passanoite reveals a delicate use of the classical technique from a contemporary perspective. Based on pure movement, the work establishes the drama of the scene in the physical conception of the music. In Passanoite, Daniela creates grand pivots of movement that echo in the bodies of the dancers and reverberate especially in their hand and arm gestures. The body gives visuality to space. According to the choreographer, the music is the central reference of her creations: “It guides the structure of the ballet, the size of the cast, the formations of each moment.” Fraga’s costumes are like points of light that punctuate and delineate the scene. Quintilian’s lighting outlines and enhances the spaces on stage and composes, along with the movement, ambiences that mark the passage of time.

Choreography: Ricardo Scheir
Music: André Mehmari
Acting, art directing and Lightning: Marcio Aurelio
Choreography Assistant: Andrea Pivatto
Direction Assistant: Ligia Pereira

Ballo was created by Brazilian choreographer Ricardo Scheir to São Paulo Dance Company. The production has original music by André Mehmari, whose point of departure was the subject of a madrigal by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) Ballo delle Ingrate (Dance of the Ungrateful Women). Monteverdi brought together two important artistic movements in this work: the Renaissance and the baroque. Ballo delle Ingrate is an allegory for the punishment of women who won’t surrender to love. The characters represented are Love, Venus, Pluto, four shadows of hell and eight ungrateful souls. To this cast, the choreographer added Ariadne, as a figure who accompanies the action and adds meaning. Based on the music, Ricardo Scheir and Marcio Aurelio combined the script of Ballo delle ingrate with current elements and characterizations to complement the dramatic composition. Responsible for the stage and art direction and lighting design, Marcio Aurelio conceived scenic and dramatic elements that go together with the choreography and music to compose a piece that speaks of issues central to humankind throughout the ages: love, instinct, desire, sensuality and finitude.

Choreography: Paulo Caldas
Music original: Sacha Amback
Lightning: Renato Machado
Costume: Raquel Davidowicz
Choreography Assistant: Carolina Wiehoff
Vídeo and escenario: Jurandir Muller

The presence of Paulo Caldas’ work in the São Paulo Dance Company’s repertoire is a reiteration of its artistic goal to bring together tradition and rupture. A creator who writes with light and movement, Paulo Caldas specially developed a quartet to a sound environment by Sacha Amback for the SPDC. The work came into being as a challenge given to the choreographer to create a piece to be performed between two traditional works in the repertoire – an Entr’acte. But the name is also evocative of a film by René Clair (1898-1981), directly cited in the form of a video projection by Jurandir Muller in which a ballerina in a tutu and points, spinning very slowly, creates an interference that establishes a dislocated perspective of the classical tradition and the counting of time. Far from any obvious suggestion of narrative, the focus of Entreato is movement itself, with its speeds, slownesses, lingerings and deformations. It is the body, the theatricality of gesture, which produces meanings, vectors of space and tensions in time.

Choreography, direction and scenic concept: Alessio Silvestrin
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Ofrenda Musical BWV 1079, revisada por el grupo belga Het Collectief
Lightning: Wagner Freire and Alessio Silvestrin
Costume an scenario: Alessio Silvestrin
Costume Assistant: Marina Baeder
Creating Art: Carmela Gross
Art Creation Body-to-Body: Laerte
Costume design: Arte & Co.
Scenario construction: Servicios del DMV and Asamblea
Scenic collaboration: Mauricio de Oliveira and Ricardo Scheir
Assistant art director: Bruno Anselmo
Assistant director: Maurício de Oliveira

In Polígono, the dramaturgy begins with Bach’s Musical Offering, which exemplifies the structure of the music in its movements. In the work, the construction of the scene, built with scenery of panels and netting, gives perspective to the stage. The elements mingle, interpenetrate and contort, constantly producing new configurations. For Silvestrin, “just as a sound in music is considered a geometric point, the body is a point on a flat surface which, when multiplied creates the segments of a polygon.”