From five old photographs published in the book “Aljezur 1869~1969 | memories”, Madalena Victorino and André Duarte, together with five dancer-actresses, created the show at Monte da Lagoa Saborosa Eva Pore #2.
The premiere is tomorrow, the 17th, continuing on the 18th, 19th and 31st of May, as well as on the 1st and 2nd of June, in this hidden mountain somewhere in the Espinhaço de Cão mountain range, four kilometers from the village of Bordeira (Aljezur). There will be dance, music, fables, adult women and child women, «play animals that mix with real animals (dog, horse, wild boar) and improbable animals (giraffe, rhinoceros), dictated by the imagination», as revealed by choreographer Madalena Victorino to Sul Informação, which yesterday afternoon accompanied one of the rehearsals.
Among so many women, the only man is André Duarte, in other words Júnior, the musician who now lives nearby, being one of the founders of Terrakota and He has already become a regular creator of the Lavrar o Mar projects. Electric guitar in hand, he will punctuate moments of this show that takes place around the hill and inside its centuries-old mud walls.
Within the various spaces of this agricultural hill, abandoned for decades – «it took a lot of work to clean and prepare everything», explains Catarina – the eight fables will be told, which mark the «oral transmission from woman to girl». They are “fables built and invented from the materials here. Children play with what they have: bottles, stones, earth, tray, fruit box, burlap”, explains Madalena Victorino.
At this point in the show, the audience – 80 people at a time – will enter, divided into groups, inside the various spaces of the houses. “Here where we are was the straw and hay house, next to the stable”, but there is still the car house, the yellow house, the oven, the living house, the workshop, the distillery, the pigsty.
From around 50 photographs of the such a book that collected old images of Aljezur, especially from five of them, «we were writing fictions, which resulted in a set of our pieces», which will be danced, interpreted, sung, played in the spaces around the house, in the open air.
«As in the photo showing the inauguration of the Aljezur Primary School, in the 30s, the show begins with an inauguration. It has to do with the isolation of the regime. Then we have rice weeding in the floodplain, done only by women, isolated from men. The kids will be dressed like this boy. And, as you see on this table at a party, we're going to eat kids and drink black beer. In the end, it closes with the cocktail drink», says Madalena Victorino, as she runs through small cards with those five photographs between her fingers.
All the images refer, in some way, to isolation, «the isolation of the people who lived here and which led to the development of imagination».
For this reason, another inspiration from Eva Pore #2 it is the «Festa do Vidigal, a party that took place in a hill in Aljezur, tens of years ago, and which resulted in the collective death of the people who participated in it. It was never quite known what happened there. In this very large isolation, sometimes very strange things happen, there are many perplexities between these walls».
And as in Eva Pore #1, also now there will be animals. The real ones - a mare, dogs, perhaps wild boar (actually pigs crossed with wild boar) - are brought in by the guardian of animals Nídia Barata. And the «maybe» in relation to wild boars is because, despite being tame, these animals have never traveled by car…and the first attempt to bring them from the farm where they live to Monte da Lagoa Saborosa did not go well…
But Madalena Victorino speaks of “a very strong relationship with animals, in the bodies of dancers”.
The show, revealed its creator, “is always crossed by this strangeness, the environment is full of secrets. As when we look at these rammed earth walls and see that they are made of earth and stones and seem simple to us. But then we look closely and see cracks where a lot is hidden, we see the pores on the wall which are also the pores of the skin. Hence Eva Poro».
In addition to a group of fabulous adult dancers, who also sing or play the saxophone, there is a group of eleven girls, from 5 to 15 years old and of various nationalities: Portuguese, Czech, Slovak, French, English, Dutch. They are children who live nearby and whom Madalena Victorino invited to be part of the show.
The music was created by André Duarte/Júnior and by Ana Raquel Martins, saxophonist and dancer. «The music infuses the dynamics, the mysteries and the joy of each of the pieces. There is also a lot of singing, because of breathing and blowing. Singing, blowing, breathing as ways of building the world. The only man is Junior and he infiltrates the sound in the pieces».
This time, Eva Poro it will only be shown here, at Monte da Lagoa Saborosa (what a fantastic and appropriate name!), at the end of four kilometers of a dusty road that leaves from the Largo da Bordeira. There will be no shows in Monchique. “I couldn't find the right place in Monchique…it was wiser to take this option”, admits, with some regret, Madalena Victorino.
And so, starting tomorrow and in six sessions, this show that marks the end of the third season of the Plowing the Sea project will perform outdoors, always at 17:30 pm. The meeting point will be the village square of Bordeira, from where the 80 spectators of each session will then follow, «as few cars as possible», along the dirt road until close to the hill, where they will enter after a short walk. The entire show, which lasts two hours, is outdoors, so the production recommends “suitable shoes for walking”. And there is no need to recommend that you take your eyes, ears, soul, wide open to absorb all the wonder of Eva Pore #2.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
BORDER - ALJEZUR
17. 18. 19. 31 MAY 1. 2 JUN
Fri to Sun. 17:30 pm
Meeting point: Bordeira
DURATION: 2h approx
AGE RATING: M/6+
children under 6 years old will not be allowed in.
TICKETS:
7€ General public (+12 years)
5€ Children up to 12 years old
TICKETS FOR SALE ALSO AT:
Monchique – Municipal Library
Aljezur – Lavrar o Mar House – Rua João Dias Mendes
*We recommend comfortable shoes and suitable clothing to walk about 15 minutes in the field, to the venue.
ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL DATA SHEET
CREATION: Madalena Victorino and André Duarte
CONCEPT, DRAMATURGY AND CHOREOGRAPHY: Magdalene Victorino
COMPOSITION: André Duarte musical
TEXTS: annie greek
CO-CREATION WITH: Alice DuarteAna Raquel MartinsAna RootArantxa JosephBeatriz DiasMarta JardimNídia Barata
TECHNICAL DIRECTION AND LIGHT DESIGN: Joaquim Madail
GUARDIAN OF THE ANIMALS: Cheap Nidia
WITH SPECIAL PARTICIPATION: Alya Martins, Beatriz Gaspar, Indigo Randizek, Lia Neves, Luna Randizek, Luz Franco, Maia Neves, Naoli Gallet, Pavlinka Malá, Saar Huizinga, Zia Martins
SPECIAL THANKS:
Srª Engª Margarida Alves – Owner of Monte da Lagoa Saborosa / Bordeira
Mr. Valentine - Pastor
Everyone involved in the production of the book “Aljezur 1869-1969 Memórias”
Comments