Zona Franca

English

Would a nation choose to walk towards its own destruction?

A dance group, which is more than the sum of its parts, moves through Brazil, a country reborn from the ashes. We observe our many deaths and lives in the course of a lifetime, like a snake that sheds its dead skin. Birthdays come, celebrations of life that never measure up to it. When a balloon bursts in a child's party it is a fright in the middle of the celebration, the sudden end of something beautiful, like an implosion, a shock.

Would a nation choose to walk towards its own destruction? The kind of questions we would also ask about ourselves and the others; How do the forces that make us up fight with each other? We have thus brought to the scene questions about these crossroads. How is it possible to sniff the paths? Moreover, we wonder how much an artistic encounter can change the course of a life. And what happens when a society chooses barbarism, war, and the individual finds himself powerless? Are we really making our personal choices?

We deal here with strong feelings, we confront collectives such as religions, rituals, festivities. How much does a group encourage or suppress one’s capacity of being free? What events or circumstances can change a trajectory? A meeting, a book, love, religion, the government, an opportunity?

One defining moment. Like a portal you go through.

We make use of ritualistic elements such as the trance, the vertigo aroused by the drums. It’s a free zone and we bring truths. We have created a space where we pursue freedom, both for performers and the public. But another global free zone also seems to be present, a somber one this time, sprawling across the world economy. The title also refers to the free incorporation of elements from different dances and music, characteristic of artistic movements born after the Internet.

We proceed with the group's research, which started in the previous shows Suave and Cria, on the connections between urban and popular dances in Brazil and a contemporary performance and staging, where we ask ourselves what voices do these dances speak, what can we express through them? Besides “Passinho”, this work presents elements of contact dance, theater, vocal research, Afro dances, Afrohouse, Sabala, Tiktok, and dances from the north and northeast of Brazil, such as Pisadinha and Brega Funk.

About Alice Ripoll 
Choreographer based in Rio de Janeiro, Alice directs two dance groups, REC and SUAVE. She investigates relationships between contemporary dance, theater, performance and Brazilian urban dances. Her performances are being shown at several festivals and theaters in Brazil and abroad, such as Panorama Festival, Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Seine-Saint-Denis, Zurich Theater Spektakel, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Centre Pompidou, HAU, Wiener Festwochen and others.