Festival Contrapeso returns to Loulé, from the 1st to the 4th of December, for its 2nd edition, this year with an international program, focusing on theater and jazz, and which brings 25 artists to the Algarve, from 12 different nationalities.
France, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Chile or South Korea coexist on stage, physical comedy workshops, open rehearsals or even in a multimedia exhibition.
“From Paris With Love” is the theme of this second edition of the Festival, inspired by the origins of its artistic directors, Carolina Santos and Marco Martins, presenting shows and artists with whom they crossed paths when they lived in Paris, and that, in some way, the influenced or inspired.
The Festival kicks off on December 1st with the national premiere of “Scotland!", by the British company The Latebloomers, a physical comedy show for the whole family, which was awarded at the Fringe festivals in Perth, Adelaide, Prague and Paris.
At night, the French-Greek pianist Antoine Karacostas, performs as a quartet at Solar da Música Nova, the space dedicated to the festival's musical programming.
The Australian Sam Dugmore assumes, the next day, the role of the greatest action hero of all time in “Manbo” at Casa da Mákina and, later, the French guitarist Florent Souchet performs in a trio with Anders Ulrich on double bass and Guilhem Flouzat on drums, for a concert of uncompromising compositions, where the nuclear language of jazz is combined with a constant search for new sounds.
The physical comedy about a lonely old man and a “homeless” dog who become friends and who decide to enter the world of ballroom dancing, entitled “Strictly Come Barking” and starring comedians Jonathan Tilley and Oliver Nilsson premieres at Casa of the Machine on the 3rd of December.
At night, at Cineteatro Louletano, the acclaimed company Plexus Polaire, which on its last visit to Portugal, as part of the Fimfa LX21, sold out the D. Maria II National Theater with “Moby Dick”, presents the show “Dracula – Lucy's Dream” , in a national premiere, through human-sized puppets and the double presence of the puppeteer-actor.
The Festival Contrapeso program ends on the 4th with a concert by bassist and composer Marco Martins (co-founder of Mákina de Cena), who at the festival presents “Roadbook Revisited”, a project that toured several clubs, festivals and auditoriums in France, Spain and Portugal and which is now reunited with a large part of the original collective, in a revisiting of the record that marks Martins as a creator of soundscapes, always in connection with the jazz universe.
In addition to the program of shows, the Festival Contrapeso program, from the 1st to the 4th of December at Casa do Meio-Dia, the exhibition “Arquivo Samotrácias”, a documentary vision by the photographer and video artist João Catarino on the theme of migration in the feminine, composed by multimedia installations.
There is also a physical comedy workshop, guided by the company The Latebloomers, where various theater exercises developed at the École International de Jacques Lecoq, in Paris, will be explored.
Finally, there will be an open rehearsal aimed at students from the Conservatory of Music of Loulé, in which processes of improvisation and interpretation of themes from the album “Roadbook” by Marco Martins (bass) are shared, with Leon Baldesberger (trumpet) ), Pierre Bernier (saxophone), Florent Souchet (guitar) and Simon Bernier (drums).
The Festival Contrapeso takes place in Loulé at the Cineteatro Louletano, Solar da Música Nova Auditorium, Casa da Cultura de Loulé, Casa do Meio-Dia and Casa da Mákina.
Program
1 December, 17:00 – Cineteatro Louletano
Scotland!, The Latebloomers – theater / national premiere
1 December, 21:30 pm – Solar da Música Nova
Antoine Karacostas Quartet – jazz / national premiere
2 December, 19:00 – Casa da Mákina
Manbo, Sam Dugmore – theater/national premiere
2 December, 21:30 pm – Solar da Música Nova
Florent Souchet Trio – jazz / national debut
3 December, 11:00 – Casa da Mákina
Stricktly Barking, Jon and Ollie – theater / national premiere
3 December, 21:00 – Cineteatro Louletano
Dracula – Lucy's Dream, Plexus Polaire – theater / national premiere
4 December, 17:00 pm – Solar da Música Nova
Roabook Revisited, Marco Martins – jazz
Parallel Program
December 1st to 4th, Midday House
Samothrácias Archive – exhibition
3 December, 15:00 to 19:00 – Casa da Cultura de Loulé
Physical Comedy, The Latebloomers – workshop
3 December, 17pm to 00pm – Solar da Música Nova
Roabook Revisited, Marco Martins – open essay
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