The motto is given by Jack Kerouac and his emblematic work “Pela Estrada Fora”. The destination is a “Blue Summer”, «always on the move», with theatre, dance, music, performance, visual arts and cinema. Guitarist Tó Trips and Alessandro Sciarroni, Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale of Dance, are just some of the guests. Everything starts on October 17th and only ends on November 2nd, with a total of 21 shows, divided by Faro, Loulé and Lagos.
This year, national and international artists will invite the public to think about the concept of the Anthropocene – a time that is characterized by the impact of Man's actions on his habitat.
Ao Sul Informação, Catarina Saraiva, curator of the Summer Blue Festival, explained the reason for this choice.
“The concept was chosen even before these climate strikes. It seemed important to us to raise this issue and make the population think about relevant issues, not with an apocalyptic perspective, but more with the idea of thinking about what we can do to regenerate the planet we live on».
This year, the "Blue Summer" goes through Faro, Loulé and Lagos and hence the idea of riding “Away the Road”, Jack Kerouac's ride. beat generation.
Of the 21 shows, four will be premieres – two national and two absolute, in addition to two co-productions.
With the artistic direction of the duo Ana Borralho and João Galante, the 9th edition program includes renowned creators of the international artistic scene, such as the Italian choreographer Alessandro Sciarroni, Niño de Elche, Flamenco artist, and even national names such as Tó Trips, Raquel André or Russian, an Algarvian rapper.
This year, Loulé hosts the opening show for the Summer Blue. “Mining Stories”, by the Belgians Silke Huysman and Hannes Derreere, is one of the two national premieres of the festival and will be presented in a single session on October 17th, at 21 pm, at the Cine-Teatro Louletano.
It is a documentary theater play about the environmental disaster Mariana, in Brazil. This promises to be, according to the organization, "an intriguing trip that visits memory, politics, religion and the way of telling stories."
The other national premiere is “Storm Atlas”, by the Italian dance company Dewey Dell, formed by Teodora, Demetrio, Agata Castellucci and Eugenio Resta.
A concert-performance that seeks to find the connection between sound and movement, where musicians play live through choreography. “Storm Atlas” will be presented on the 24th of October, at 23 pm, at Teatro das Figuras, in Faro.
“CHROMA_don't be frightened of turning the page:”, by Alessandro Sciarroni, will be “a hypnotic dance solo starring himself and inspired by the migratory flows of animals, but also an exploration of the physical and psychological aspects of intoxication through movement ».
The show will be presented on October 26, at 21 pm, at Teatro das Figuras, in Faro. In 2019, the Italian choreographer and dancer received the Golden Lion at the Venice Dance Biennale, which has already distinguished the biggest names in contemporary dance, such as Pina Bausch, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker or Lucinda Childs.
As for Niño de Elche (artistic name of Francisco Molina) he will present on October 18, at 21 pm, at Teatro das Figuras, in Faro, his latest project “Colombian”.
Considered by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo as the “man who bombed flamenco”, this new project Niño de Elche is inspired by round-trip songs.
One of the highlights of this program is the world premiere of the project “In Between”, by Paulina Sz, a 20-minute performance between the Polish artist and a spectator. It will be on the 17th of October, at the Cine-Teatro Louletano.
The project puts two people back to back without looking back and addresses issues such as honesty, presence, meeting and the relationship with each other.
The other world premiere will take place on the 27th of October, at the Cine-Teatro Louletano. "Laura Wants!" is a project by Sílvia Real in co-creation with Grupo 23: Silêncio! and Francisco Camacho.
This will be a dance and theater play, with teenagers and children, focused on the future and addressed to all audiences based on the question: “But what future will this be, anchored in the uncertainties of this intense now?”.
In 2018, the “Blue Summer” opened a new cycle and adopted the biennial format. Therefore, for Catarina Saraiva, this year's program is “more mature”.
“We used this format to further deepen our relations with the territory, also in this perspective of decentralizing the arts. And we achieved it through the artistic residencies, research laboratories and co-productions we did last year», he explained.
This is the case of Raquel André who, for “Artists Collection”, one of the two co-productions of the 2019 edition of the festival, held two artistic residencies in the Algarve, in Faro and in Loulé.
The show, which opens on 14th September, at the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, will be presented on 19th October, at 21 pm, at the Cine-Teatro Louletano.
It is a collection that deals with each artist, their practices and working tools, as well as their thoughts and biographies. Verão Azul will also present “Collection of Lovers” on November 1st, at 21 pm, at Centro Cultural de Lagos. These two works are part of the tetralogy entitled “People's Collection”.
Another co-production of this edition of Verão Azul is “Entre Dogs and Lobos”, by the Brazilian artist Gustavo Ciríaco, who developed a performance inspired by a collection of stories and descriptions of landscapes that were only saved in the memories of elders and others imagined and drawn by children.
For the creation of “Between Dogs and Lobos”, the artist held two residencies, one in Lagos where he collaborated with a group of children and the other in Loulé with a group of seniors. The show can be seen, on October 25th, at 21 pm, at the Cine-Teatro Louletano.
As for Cátia Pinheiro, it will take to the streets of Loulé (19th and 20th October) and Lagos (1st and 2nd November) “The Walk#2”, an audio route that uses the city and the small fictions extracted from it to lead spectators on a unique and personal journey.
In Loulé, the route will start at the Convento do Espírito Santo and, in Lagos, at the Messe Militar. The outings will be individual, with an interval of four minutes between each spectator and tickets can be purchased at the Cine-Teatro Louletano and at the Centro Cultural de Lagos. “The Wlak #2” was developed as part of a residency held by the artist in the Algarve.
The Chilean collective MilM2 (thousand square meters) will tour the streets of Faro (19th and 20th of October) and Quarteira (26th and 27th of October) with the “Proyecto Pregunta”, a device that aims to encourage civic participation, promote debate in public space on social issues and which will count on the collaboration of a group of volunteers from the local community.
“Burn Time”, by choreographer and performer André Uerba, will be a performance that will feature the participation of 10 people from the local community who will be selected in an audition limited to 25 participants, on October 17th.
The show will be presented on October 24, at 21 pm, at Teatro das Figuras, in Faro. The ticket (5 euros) for this initiative also gives access to the concert-performance “Storm Atlas”, by Dewey Dell.
On October 17, at 18 pm, the exhibition “Expats – Living in a Foreign Country”, by the filmmaker, photographer and editor André Príncipe, will be inaugurated at Associação 30, in Faro.
O Verão Azul will screen three films: “Braguino”, by Clément Cogitore (October 22, 21 pm, CineClube de Faro), “Raving Iran”, by Susanne Regina Meures (October 23, 21:00 pm, Solar da Música Nova Auditorium, in Loulé; October 30, 21:30 pm, at Galeria LAR, in Lagos), and “Chuva é Cantoria in Aldeia dos Mortos”, by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora (31 October, 21 pm, Galeria LAR, in Lagos).
One of the novelties of this edition of Verão Azul is the creation of two meeting points at the Gimnásio Clube de Faro and Solar da Música Nova Auditorium (Loulé), which will feature free activities, such as concerts, conversations and informal meetings between the public and creators.
In Loulé, concerts by the Algarve artists 2Mikkers – Imaginário e Lágrima, by João Caiano and Martim Santos (October 17, 23:30) and Russa (October 19, 23:30) will take place. Here, the concert by Gabriel Ferrandini, Maria Reis (Pega Monstro) and André Cepeda will also be presented (25th October, 23:30).
Already in Faro, there will be a concert by another Algarvian artist, Tiago Saga (24th October, 00:00) and guitarist and composer Sérgio Pelágio (26th October, 23:00).
Verão Azul also proposes a set of parallel activities, such as dance workshops, with Gustavo Ciríaco (October 26th and 27th, at Academia Iluminarte, in Loulé), and Musical Improvisation, with Gabriel Ferrandini (October 26th, at Mákina de Cena – Cultural Association, in Loulé).
The values of the workshops vary between 20 and 10 euros, respectively.
Two free masterclasses are also planned. On the 26th of October, at the Casa da Cultura de Loulé, there will be a photography session with André Cepeda and on the 2nd, at the Galeria LAR, there will be another on theatre, with Raquel André.
To encourage criticism in the performing arts, a critic group will be created, made up of spectators who will analyze the shows, interview artists and produce material that can be published on the Verão Azul website. This activity is open to the general public and will be guided by the festival's curator.
Registration for parallel activities can be made through the e-mail address [email protected].
The festival's program also includes two shows dedicated exclusively to the school community.
“Antiprincesas – Clarice Lispector”, by Cláudia Gaiolas is an initiative inspired by the life of the Brazilian writer, which will be presented on October 25, at 10:30 am, in Loulé Municipal Park, and on October 30, at the same time, in Park of the City, in Lagos.
On the 31st of October, at 10:30 am, at the Centro Cultural de Lagos, “Por esse Mundo Fora”, by Márcia Lança and Nuno Lucas, will take place, an event about how curiosity can lead us to overcome our limits.
The end of this long program will be with Golden Key.
Tó Trips, guitarist of Dead Combo, will join Tiago Gomes, on November 2nd, at 21 pm, at Centro Cultural de Lagos.
“On the Road” will be a travel show based on the homonymous book by Jack Kerouac, considered the bible of beat generation. The two performers and the video (directed by Raquel Castro) take the viewer to the emblematic Route 66, in search of the American dream.
Catarina Saraiva, the curator of “Verão Azul”, has “high expectations” for the entire event.
“The festival matured, grew and spreads more widely throughout the territory. We have parallel activities, meeting points… I hope the public gets very involved and comes to the shows. We want people to understand how, through art, we can talk about a lot», he said.
“Verão Azul” is produced by the cultural association casaBranca and is part of “365Algarve”.
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