Choreography for a sanctification

A performance by Tiago Vieira for Mélanie Ferreira

This project is an individual and artistic need that appears in 2021 after starting to contact Tiago Vieira in theatrical laboratory held at Latoaria. Instead of the usual creator who chooses the performer, here it was the performer who choose the creator and invited him to create a solo. This invitation appears because the performer, Mélanie Ferreira, believes that the creative act, has to be true, intelligent, intense and promising, so she couldn’t be the one to create the solo itself, for lack of honesty and pure need to create, instead it is full of need to make her body survive through the head of others. There is a dependence so that the existence of this performative body can have even more meaning and achieve a purer state; however, this dependence is not closed in the other, but rather to be an open dependency, where both bodies neutralize, fuse and renew in the hope of achieving the sublime.

Coreografia para uma santificação arises from mythological and biblical figures, such as, Salomé, Maria de Madalena, Helena de Tróia, and others. A performance that questions the connection between the sacred and the profane, the body as a place of annunciation, miracle, sin, desire. The dance as a privileged space for ritual and research of bliss/ ecstasy. The sexual glow as revolutionary prayer, resistance and search for everyday miracles. A performance that approach the inexplicable, the transcendence. Quoting Georges Bataille, it is intended “to reach, for a moment, the extreme of possible, shortly after (…) I will be somewhere else”, to the head, to the body, intends to elevate a state of transcendence.

Artistic Direction: Mélanie Ferreira
Choreography: Mélanie Ferreira and Tiago Vieira

Performance: Mélanie Ferreira

Coaching: Tiago Vieira

Light and Scenography: Mélanie Ferreira and Tiago Vieira Costumes| Tiago Vieira and Luís Oliveira
Sound Mix: Filipe Baptista
Video and Photography: Bruno Simão
Production: Mélanie Ferreira e Self-mistake
Hosting: Cisterna da Faculdade de Belas-Artes
Support to artistic residencies: C.e.m. (Lisbon), Estúdios Vítor Cordon (Lisbon), Teatro Viriato (Viseu), Escola de Dança Lugar Presente (Viseu), TRUST Collective (Arganil) and Cisterna da Faculdade de Belas-Artes (Lisbon)
Support: Self-Mistake
Acknowledgements: António de Sousa Dias, Maria Isabel Nunes, Tânia Guerreiro, Maria João Rochete, Carlos Fernandes, Henrique Amoedo, Albino Moura, Flores da Alcina, Latoaria