@albanojeronimooficialeAttended the Theater Course in Actor Training at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema in Lisbon and is co-founder of the Teatro Nacional 21 company.

In theater, has worked with: Luís Fonseca, Ricardo Gageiro, Fernanda Lapa, Cristina Carvalhal, Diogo Infante, João Mota, Isabel Medina, John Retallack, Tiago Guedes, Nuno Carinhas, Ricardo Pais, Nuno M. Cardoso, Rui Mendes, Beatriz Batarda, Cláudia Lucas Chéu, Nuno Cardoso, Mickael de Oliveira, John Romão, Jorge Andrade, Carlos Pimenta, Carla Maciel, among others.
Recently, performed in “Quarteto” (Heiner Muller) – directed by Carlos Pimenta, in ‘Pocilga’ (Pier Paolo Pasolini) – directed by John Romão, in “Sócrates tem de morrer” and in “Vida de John Smith” (Mickael de Oliveira) – directed by Mickael de Oliveira, in “Coriolano” (Shakespeare) – directed by Nuno Cardoso and in “O Falecido Mattia Pascal” (Pirandello) with Jorge Andrade from the Mala Voadora theater company.

He made his debut as a director at the Teatro Nacional D.Maria II – Lisbon, with “Um Libreto para Ficarem em Casa Seus Anormais” from Rodrigo Garcia and rewritten by Mickael de Oliveira, in a Tropical Opera, and then with “Veneno” by Cláudia Lucas Chéu on tour at various theaters in the country.

In Cinema, worked with: Luís Fonseca, José Fonseca e Costa, Raúl Ruiz, Sérgio Graciano, Marco Martins, Francisco Manso, José Farinha, Sandro Aguilar, Pedro Varela, Miguel Gaudêncio, Gonçalo Galvão Telles, Solveig Nordlund, Vicente Alves do Ó, Valeria Sarmiento, Henrique Pina, Christian von Castelberg, Luis Galvão Telles, Jonas Rothlaender, Caca Diegues, Stan Douglas, Ciaran Donnelly, Stephen St.Leger, Tiago Guedes, among others.

On television, he took part in several soap operas and series, including the series “Vikings” playing Euphemius, produced by MGM and the History Channel, and “Sara”, by Marco Martins, for RTP1.

Nominated for several awards, including best actor in Pedro Varela’s “Anesthesia” at ShortCutz, winner of the award for best film actor at the Euphoria Film Festival with ‘Florbela’ from Vicente Alves do Ó, winner of the Sophia award for best supporting actor in Valéria Sarmiento’s “Lines of Wellington”, nominated for best actor in a series at the Monte Carlo Television Festival in “Naked City”, nominated for a Golden Globe for drama with “Miss Julia” from August Strindberg, among others.

@albanojeronimooficiale

Born in 1977, he graduated from the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema. He was a member of the Casa Conveniente theatre company and is a member of Teatro Praga.

Theatre and opera director, actor, playwrighter, curator, television presenter, teacher, essayist and portuguese editor, he regularly presents his work in theatres, foundations, museums and government institutions, both nationally and internationally.

His texts have been published by the Museu Berardo, Fundação EDP, Espai D’art Contemporary di Castello, Câmara Municipal do Porto, as well as in various publications by Tinta-da-China, Textos e Pretextos da Universidade de Lisboa, Jornal Público, Flanzine, Culturgest and Douda Correria. In co-authorship with Alexandre Melo and Vasco Araújo, he is the author of “Império” and “Augusta”, published by Documenta. Curator of “A poesia de cada dia nos dai hoje” and “A CNB e os poetas” at the Companhia Nacional de Bailado, he is also responsible for curating the events “Estar em casa” at the Teatro São Luiz (with Anabela Mota Ribeiro), “Taburopa” in Cologne, “FiloLisboa” with the Goethe Institute and the French Institute, and also as artistic curator of concerts by the fado singer Gisela João.

He is a regular professor at the Escola Superior de Artes de Lisboa, at Fórum Dança and Balleteatro and has given his lectures at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the Universidade Católica de Lisboa and the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and has also spoken at numerous public events of different artistic manifestations. With “Perda Preciosa” he won the SPA award for best dance performance.

Due to his multifaceted work and promotion of contemporary portuguese art, as well as his public profile in numerous interventions, interviews and national and international publications, he was described by the Semanário Expresso as being “one of the most influential people in Portugal”.

In 2012 he was invited to join the European Commission’s “New Narratives for Europe” working team. He is the author and presenter of the cultural promotion programmes “Super Swing” and “Princesas e Doentes” on Canal Q.

©Vitorino Coragem
@andre_e_teodosio

Essayist, dramaturge, and independent curator based in New York City. Full Professor, Department of Performance Studies, New York University and Associate Dean, Center for Research & Study, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.

Author of Exhausting Dance: performance and the politics of movement (2006, published in fourteen languages) and of Singularities: dance in the age of performance (2016). Curator of festivals and projects for HKW-Berlin, MoMA-Warsaw, MoMA PS1, the Hayward Gallery, Haus der Künst-Munich, Sydney Biennial 2016, among others.

“Best Performance Award 2008” from AICA/US for co-curating and directing the redoing of Allan Kaprow’s 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (Haus der Kunst 2006, PERFORMA 07).

Since 2008 he collaborates in several of Brazilian artist Eleonora Fabião’s actions.

In 2024 he curated the online exhibit Soiled–Paul McCarthy’s early performance works (1971-76) for Xavier Hufkens gallery.

©Vitorino Coragem
Tisch School/ Performance Studies – André Lepecki

soon available

Born in 1978, she is co-founder of Teatro Nacional 21.

Cláudia Lucas Chéu studied Modern Languages and Literature (FCSH) and completed the Actor Training course at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema.

She made her directing debut at the Teatro S. Luiz with Poltrona – monólogo para uma mulher (Armchair – monologue for a woman). Also directed Glória ou como Penélope Morreu de Tédio (Glory or how Penelope died of boredom) in the studio theatre of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Europa, Ich Liebe Dich at the Teatro Rápido and Violência – fetiche do homem bom (Violence – fetish of the good man) in the studio theatre of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II.

She has published the plays Glória ou como Penélope morreu de tédio and Poltrona – Monólogo para uma mulher, published by Bicho-do-Mato/Teatro Nacional D. Maria II; Colapso, published by Teatro Nacional São João; Violência – fetiche do homem bom; Círculo Onanista; Bank, Bank, You’re Dead and Europa, Ich Liebe Dich, published by Bicho-do-Mato/Teatro Nacional D. Maria II; A Cabeça Muda, published by Cama de Gato Edições.

Cláudia also published the micro play Circle Jerk in the performing arts magazine Galega Núa.

Her poetry has been published in the anthology Meditações sobre o fim – Os Últimos poemas, Hariemuj editions.

She was awarded an Emmy Award as a member of the writing team for the soap opera Laços de Sangue.

She is co-founder of Teatro Nacional 21 and Cama de Gato Edições and has just created the publishing house Cama de Gato Edições and published the book Nojo, (não) edições.

Born in 1965, she completed the Actors Training Course at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema in 1994.

She furthered her training in several artistic areas: Butoh Dance, Susuki Method for actors, Exploration of voice and singing, Stanislavsky Method, Movement for actors. Throughout her career, she collaborated with many creators from various artistic areas.

Dora develops and participates in projects not only as an actress but also in the creation and staging of performances.

She also directs actors for animation and dubbing projects, and leads creative workshops and amateur theatre groups.

(CV with more information, in the portuguese version)

©Ivo Canelas

Erna Ómarsdóttir graduated from PARTS (performing arts research and training studios, Brussels) in 1998. She went on to work with
various Belgian and international dance and theater companies, including Troubleyn, Ballet C De la B and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, performing around the world. She also became a founding member of the dance and theatre collectives Ekki (Reykjavík, 1996) and Poni (Brüssel, 2001).

Together with composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, Erna created “IBM 1401- A User’s Manual” in 2002 (revived in 2017, in memoriam of
JJ) and “The Mysteries of Love” in 2005 – both works toured extensively through Europe until 2009.

In 2008, Erna and Valdimar Jóhannsson (who form a theatrical band called LAZYBLOOD), founded Shalala, a performance group that has produced numerous dance- and performance pieces, presented at performing arts festivals and theatres worldwide.

Erna has created and directed a number of works for Iceland Dance Company, including “We are all Marlene Dietrich FOR” (2005) in
collaboration with Emil Hrvation (Janez Janza) and “Transaquania – Out of the Blue” (2009) and “Transaquania – Into Thin Air” (2010), in collaboration with Damien Jalet and Gabríela Friðriksdóttir. In 2009 Erna created and directed “Black Marrow” for the Australian company Chunky Moves, in collaboration with Damien Jalet and with original music by Ben Frost (The work was presented at the

Melbourne International Arts Festival and then re-staged in 2015, as part of the Iceland Dance Company-repertory.)

In 2015, Erna took up her position as artistic director of the Iceland Dance Company.

For her choreography in “Njála”, a collaboration between Iceland Dance Company and Reykjavík City Theatre (2015) she received the Icelandic Performing Arts Award in the category Dance- and Stage Movement 2016. And in 2017, Erna created SACRIFICE (A Festival For Common Things Made Holy), in collaboration with Valdimar Jóhannsson. The event also included collaborative work by Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, Ragnar Kjartansson, Margrétm Bjarnadóttir, Bryce Dessner, Matthew Barney, Friðgeir Einarsson, Sofia Jernberg, Sigtryggur Berg, Dóra Jóhannsdóttir and dancers of Iceland Dance Company.

Recent works for the Iceland Dance Company is the “Darkness Series” (“At Dusk We Embrace”, “Örævi”, “Variations of Darkness” and “The Best of Darkness”), all in collaboration with Valdimar Jóhannsson and with original music by Sigur Rós.

In 2018, she created, in collaboration with Icelandic choreographer Halla Ólafsdóttir, a brand-new version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the Theater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. The production was nominated for the German Faust Awards in 2019, as Choreography of the Year.

In 2019 Erna Ómarsdóttir created “AION”, with renowned contemporary composer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir. Performed by members of the Iceland Dance Company together with a full-blown symphony orchestra, “AION” has been staged and performed by different entities, such as the Iceland Symphonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphonic orchestra and the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2020, Erna got together with Damien Jalet for yet another collaboration; “DuEls“, a journey through the Vigeland Museum in
Oslo, led by members of Nagelhus Schia Productions and the Iceland Dance Company, to music by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, among others. Through a series of short and visceral pieces performed as a tour performance through the museum’s various rooms, the choreography aimed at releasing the concentrated energy in Gustav Vigeland’s monumental sculptures.

“DuEls” won Erna and Damien the precious Norwegian SUBJEKT Awards in 2020 for best production in theatre and dance and a special film version of the piece was made by Swedish diretor Jonas Åkerlund (U2, Madonna, Eminem), due to be released in 2023.

In 2021, Erna directed a hybrid piece of theatre, dance and music at Theater Freiburg, based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and created in collaboration with Gabríela Friðriksdottir and Bjarni Jónsson. She then went on to create and perform in “The Juliet Duet”, together with Halla Ólafsdóttir, a piece commissioned by Schauspiel Leipzig (Residency) and the choreographers’ highly feminist response to their own staging of “Romeo and Juliet” in Munich.

In 2023, Erna created “Notes And Steps From the Underworld“ – together with Swedish-Ethiopean vocal artist Sofia Jernberg. The
project was presented at the Bode Museum in Berlin as part of the museum‘s “Female Gaze” series.

For more than 20 years, Erna Ómarsdóttir has been touringfestivals and theatres all over the world with her work, enjoying
raving reviews in international media. She has worked closely withvisual artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and composer, musician Björk
(videos “Black Lake”, “Where is the Line”, “Ancestress”), Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ben Frost, SigurRós, Ólöf Arnalds, Skúli Sverrisson, Ólafur Arnalds, also film directors Jonas Åkerlund (videos by SigurRós and Duran Duran), Terrence Mallick and Andy Huang. She became associate director of Les Grandes Traversees in Bordeaux France in 2007 and was co-artistic director of Reykjavík Dance Festival 2014. She is a resident artist of APAP – advancing performing arts project, a European network connecting international and local aspects of contemporary arts. Erna is also a recipient of the Iceland Performing Arts Awards (9 times) and has been nominated on several occasions for her work in the Ballet Tanz – annual reviews.

© Saga Sigurðardóttir
site – erna omarsdottir

Ezequiel Santos (Coimbra, 1967). PhD in Contemporary Art (CAUC), Psychologist/Psychotherapist. Invited Assistant Professor at FMH/University of Lisbon, Invited Adjunct Professor at ESHTE, in the area of ​​social sciences.

He was a visiting professor at the Escola Superior de Dança/IPL in 2005/2006. He is currently a researcher on the projects Premiere – Performing arts in a new era: AI and XR tools for better understanding, preservation, enjoyment and accessibility (https://premiere-project.eu) (HORIZON-CL2-2021-HERITAGE-01) and Observatório Ibero-Americano Políticas para a Dança (OIAPODAN) as a collaborating researcher at INET-md (FMH).

He is director and curator at Fórum Dança, a cultural association of which he has been a member since 1996, having participated in international events and exchanges with more than a hundred partners. He regularly teaches seminars in “History and Theory of Dance”.

Ezequiel was a guest programmer for Cumplicidades – Lisbon International Dance Festival (2015 and 2016) at EIRA. He studied photography, theatre and dance in Lisbon and New York. He completed the II Dance Monitors Course at Fórum Dança in 1993. He participated in creations by Madalena Victorino, Rui Nunes and Francisco Camacho between 1990-1996, performing throughout Europe.

He collaborated, among others, in the books: Movimentos Presentes (M. J. Fazenda, Ed., Cotovia & Danças na Cidade, 1997), Corpo Fast Forward (Porto 2001 & Número, Ed.), Documento Dez Mais Dez (Re.Al/João Fiadeiro & Forum Dança, Ed., 2001), Tourfly – Innovation and Future: contributions to the design of the tourist offer in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Lisboa-01-0145-Feder-023368, Eshte, 2019), Strategic Business Models to Support Demand, Supply, and Destination Management in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry (Luísa Carvalho, Lurdes Calisto & Nuno Gustavo, Eds., IGI Global, 2020), Caderno do Rivoli # 9, 2023. His articles have focused on the areas of the body (View of Body, tourisms, resonances (ufjf.br)) and performing arts (https://doi.org/10.53072/RED202401/00209).

As a speaker or moderator he has participated in events in Germany, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Spain, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Romania and Turkey.

©Carlos Ferreira
Fórum Dança – Ezequiel Santos

Argentinian multidisciplinary artist Florencia Demestri has been living in Brussels since 2003. She trained in theater, circus, and contemporary dance in Argentina, then in Brazil, Cuba, and Belgium.

For the past 15 years, she has worked with choreographers such as Lisi Estaràs, David Zambrano, Finger Six, Groupe Entorse, Monia Montali, François Bodeux, and Tumbleweed.

In 2014, she founded the company demestri+lefeuvre with Samuel Lefeuvre.

Since 2023, she has been a certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method. She explores somatic research and questions the hierarchies and imaginaries through which we relate to the world.

Company
The company DEMESTRI + LEFEUVRE brings together Franco-Argentinian dancers and choreographers Florencia Demestri and Samuel Lefeuvre. Their work explores the imaginaries that shape our relationship with the world and living beings.

Through the Nomadic Research Cells, they create encounters to nourish their inquiries beyond traditional frameworks. By exploring non-anthropocentric dramaturgies, D+L invite us to de-hierarchize perception and reactivate a multisensory connection to the world.

©Michiel Devijver
Company DEMESTRI + LEFEUVRE

Francisco Camacho is a choreographer, dancer, founding member and artistic director of EIRA. He is internationally recognised as one of the leading figures of the contemporary dance movement that began in Portugal in the late 1980s, performing in Europe, America, Africa and Asia, with works that are landmarks in the history of Portuguese Dance, such as the solo performances “Rei do Exilio” and “Nossa Senhora das Flores” and the group pieces “Dom São Sebastião” and GUST.

He was awarded the Bordalo Prize from Casa da Imprensa in the area of ​​Dance (1995 and 1997) and the ACARTE/Maria Madalena Azeredo Perdigão Prize from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1994/95) as well as a Special Mention from the same Prize (1992/93). He has also presented co-choreographed performances with Monica Lapa, Vera Mantero, Carlota Lagido, Vera Mota and Silvia Real, as well as co-creations with Fernanda Lapa and Miguel Abreu.

He has performed choreographic interventions for a work by Pedro Cabrita Reis at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bonn and for the Francis Bacon exhibition at the Serralves Museum, as well as projects for unconventional spaces “anonymous performers” and “Private Dances”.

After his time at the Ballet Gulbenkian as an intern (1984/86), he danced with Paula Massano, a pioneering choreographer of Portuguese contemporary dance, and later with Creach/Koester, Meg Stuart, Alan Platel, Carlota Lagido, Miguel Moreira and Filipa Francisco, among others.

He highlights his regular collaboration with Meg Stuart, particularly as the lead in BLESSED, which has already been performed over a hundred times, and more recently, with the co-creation of “steal you for a moment”. He has also acted in theatre performances by Lúcia Sigalho and Tonan Quito.

He studied dance and theatre in Portugal (Companhia Nacional de Bailado e Ballet Gulbenkian) and in New York (Merce Cunningham Dance Studio, Movement Research, Susan Klein School and Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) and has had additional training in voice, scriptwriting and writing. He regularly teaches in Portugal and abroad.

©Cláudio Marques
Eira – Francisco Camacho

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Born in Lisbon in 1973. At the age of 17, he entered the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema to graduate in Theater Studies. Shortly after, he made his theater debut with the play Amo-te by Almeno Gonçalves.

In 1997, he began working with Artistas Unidos and with Jorge Silva Melo, which became a defining milestone in his career and in the way he would approach the work and creative responsibility of an actor throughout his career. In cinema, he has participated in over 40 films with directors such as António Pedro Vasconcelos, Leonel Vieira, Vicente Alves do Ó and Ary Zara, among others.

In 2001, he left for New York to study at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute, as a scholarship holder from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where he lived for a few years. During this period, he stands out for his work with Robert Castle, for the mastery with which he approaches and teaches the Lee Strasberg method, which was even the theme for his undergraduate thesis: “The Debate on Pedagogy in the Teaching of Arts – Castle’s Pedagogical Methodology”.

On television, he became known to the public with the series O Fura Vidas in 1999. Since then, he has participated in numerous television projects, including Filhos do Rock by Pedro Varela, Sul by Ivo Ferreira and, more recently, Causa Própria by João Nuno Pinto and Emília by Filipa Amaro.

In 2018, he directs and performs the monologue Todas as Coisas Maravilhosas, by Duncan MacMillan. This project was a huge success, touring the country for 6 years with more than 280 shows, always sold out and around 30,000 spectators.

Winner of 2 Golden Globes, the first in 2008 for Best Actor in a Film for the films Call Girl and Mistério da Estrada de Sintra and the second, in 2012, for Best Actor in a Theater for the play Amadeus.

With a career spanning over 30 years, he has won numerous awards for his work in theater, cinema and television.

(CV with more information, in the portuguese version)

©Vitorino Coragem
DEMO IMDB – Ivo Canelas

José Maria Vieira Mendes (b. 1976) has been an assistant professor at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon since 2021, Department of Germanic Studies, and a researcher at the Center for Theatre Studies of the same Faculty.

He graduated from the Faculty of Arts (German and Portuguese Language and Literature) and has a PhD in Literary Theory in collaboration with the Inter-Arts program at the Freie Universität, in Berlin. He teaches in the areas of Theatre, Cultural Studies and Contemporary Art, among other topics.

He has published several articles on theatre and art, promotes workshops, is invited to lead seminars and participate in conferences. He has written plays, librettos and occasionally writes for visual artists.

He has participated as a playwright in the International Theatre Academy Ruhr in Bochum (1999), the International Summer Residency 2000 at the Royal Court Theatre in London, and the Internationales Forum of the Theatretreffen Festival in Berlin in 2008. He was a guest writer at the University of Berkeley, California, in 2009.

He is a member of Teatro Praga, a Portuguese theatre collective that has performed regularly in the most prestigious contemporary cultural institutions in Portugal and in various festivals and venues in other countries (Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Denmark, Turkey, China, Brazil).

His plays have been published in Portugal and translated into French, German, English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, etc. He has also translated plays by Beckett, Harold Pinter, Heiner Müller, R.W. He has published two volumes of his plays, a fictional diary, an essay, Uma coisa não é outra coisa. Sobre Teatro e Literatura (2016; 2nd revised edition 2022), Para que serve? (Planeta Tangerina, 2022) and, more recently, O pior é que fica (Tinta-da-China, 2024).

Meg Stuart is a choreographer, director and dancer who lives and works in Berlin and Brussels. With her company, Damaged Goods, founded in 1994, she has created over thirty productions, ranging from solos and duets to large-scale choreographies, video works, site-specific creations and improvisation projects.

Recent creations include steal you for a moment (2024) and GLITCH WITCH (2024) Stuart’s work moves freely between the genres of dance, theater and visual arts, driven by an ongoing dialogue with artists from different disciplines. Through fictions and shifting narrative layers, she explores dance as a source of healing and a way to transform the social fabric.

Improvisation is an important part of Stuart’s practice, as a strategy to move from physical and emotional states or the memory of them. She passes down her knowledge through regular workshops and master classes in- and outside of the studio.

In 2025, with the support of Forum Dança, she organises a first edition of the ‘Mystery School’, an unconventional and experimental studies programme for performing artists.

Meg Stuart received several awards in recognition of her oeuvre, among which the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Biennale di Venezia in 2018 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023.

©Iris Janke
damagedgoods.be

 In 1989, he launched one of the first independent production companies in Portugal.

For more than three decades, he has collaborated on projects large and small, with large and small cultural institutions, both nationally and internationally.

He has also been a professor of cultural policy and cultural management in higher education for twenty years.

He served as Secretary of State for Culture from 2016 to 2018.

He is the executive director of Metropolitana.

(CV with more information, in the portuguese version)

© Estelle Valente

IFICT – Institute for Training, Research and Theatrical Creation. School of Theatre and Cinema.

Seminar ‘The Rhetorics of Testing’, with Jan Ritsema and Bojsana Cvejic, Gulbenkian Foundation, 2002.

Performer in theatre, opera and performance shows with Nuno Carinhas, Luis Miguel Cintra, Bruno Bravo, João Grosso, Luís Castro, André Guedes, Pedro Barateiro, Sara Carinhas, Lúcia Sigalho, Maria Duarte, Álvaro Correia, Jean-Paul Bucchieri, Carlos Pimenta, André e. Teodósio , John Romão, Tónan Quito, João Pedro Vaz, Nuno Cardoso, Nuno M.Cardoso, Carla Maciel, Pedro Gil, Carlos Avilez; as a director, with structures such as Cão Solteiro, O Rumo do Fumo, Galeria ZDB and Mala Voadora.

Among his stagings, the most recent ones stand out: “Do Natural”, by W.G.Sebald (S.Luiz, 2015); “The Impromptu of Versailles” by Molière (TNDMII, Sala Garrett, 2016), “Paris-Sarah-Lisbon” (Thèâtre de la Ville, Paris and São Luiz, 2016), “The Beast in the Jungle” by Marguerite Duras (CCB, 2018), “Frei Luís de Sousa” by Almeida Garrett (TNDMII, Sala Garrett, 2019), “The Lady of the Camellias” by Dumas, son (S. Luiz, 2019), “The Man of Dreams” by Sá Carneiro / Chagas Rosa (Ópera do Castelo, S.Luiz, 2022) and “Penal Colony” by Kafka/Glass (Rumo do Fumo, São Luiz, 2023).

He is the author of several performances, including: ‘MINAJesque’ (Casa Convenient, 2013); ‘Social Experimentalism’ (Há-Que-Dizê-lo, 2013); ‘Melania Melanoma’ (Gaivotas 6, 2017) and ‘The Day of the Sabbath’ (Gaivotas 6, 2018).

For ‘Juanita Castro’ (Casa Convenient, 2008), he received an Honorable Mention from the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics.
Golden Globe / SIC Television Award for Best Actor 2018, in “Forget” by Dimitris Dimitriadis, enc. Jean-Paul Buchieri (TNDMII, 2017).
SPA (Portuguese Society of Authors) Award Best Actor 2019 for “Timon of Athens” by William Shakespeare, enc. Nuno Cardoso (TMP-Rivoli, 2018). He also received the Interpretation Award of the Theatre in the Decade Competition, in 1997, for ‘Contos do Ócio’. Nominated for the European Theatre Award – New Theatrical Realities, in 2000.

He wrote the plays: “Ask the Duchess to the Servant” (2012); “Paris-Sarah-Lisbon” (2016); “Pages of Abu-Simbel” (2017).

Trainer in numerous courses in the areas of Interpretation and Text Work/Orality (ESTC; Dance Forum; CEM).

Texts and articles on Theatre Theory, Dramaturgy and Theatre Studies in show programmes and periodicals.

In June 2023 took on the role of Artistic Director of São Luiz- Teatro Municipal, in Lisbon.

©EGEAC Teatro São Luiz, Estelle Valente

Mónica Calle is artistic director, actress and theatre director at Casa Conveniente in Lisbon. In 1992, starts the project Casa Conveniente. Since then has worked from the texts of authors like Dagerman, Fiama Paes Brandão, Peter Handke, Thomas Bernhard, Pirandello, Strindberg, Beckett, Tchekhov, among others.

Since 2007 carries out several workshops blending actors and non-actors through classes/rehearsals and performances.

In 2009 starts training actors in prison, and the integrating former inmates as actors.

In 2013, Casa Conveniente migrates to the Zona J of Chelas, a council estate, to create a new theatre space in Lisbon. This marks a return to the founding idea: to work from the margins.

In 2017, she honoured by the Portuguese government with the Women in Culture Recognition – The Maria Isabel Barreno Award. Since the begining of her career, Mónica has been condecorated with several awards as an actress and theatre director, on the role of the portuguese cinema and theatre.

Mónica Calle is recognized in Portugal as part of a generation that took Portuguese theatrical creation to new paths in the early 1990s, and today sees her work as a stage director being widely recognized internationally, since her highly acclaimed creation ‘Ensaio Para Uma Cartografia’ (2017) and now with the new creation ‘Carta’ (2021), both co-produced and premiered at the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II.

Her work has been circulating in countries such as: Spain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, Vienna, and he is preparing to continue this path in Israel, Chile, Brazil, Canada, among others.

@casaconveniente

Pedro Barreiro is an artist who has developed several works as a director, performer, scenic maker, dramaturg, producer, programmer and curator.

He has been interested, in recent years and among other things, in thinking about performative acts as poetic generators, in experimenting with the conventions of theatrical forms, and in strategies for dismantling hegemonic systems in contemporary art.

Since 2020, he has been continuously creating and presenting the performance titled ‘an artist is always working’ (www.alwaysworking.art).

He was the artistic director of Teatro Sá da Bandeira, in Santarém (2015-2017) and collaborated with Teatro Praga as programmer of Rua das Gaivotas 6 (2019-2022).

He is an associated artist of Cão Solteiro, since 2020.

Currently he is the artistic director of O Espaço do Tempo.

O Espaço do Tempo – Pedro Barreiro

Born in Lisbon in 1975, Pedro Penim is a director, actor, and playwright.

Graduated in Theater in the Lisbon Theatre and Film School (ESTC) and with a master degree in Cultural Management from ISCTE, he founded the ‘Teatro Praga’ collective in 1995, an emblematic company of contemporary theater in Portugal.

He is also the founder of the cultural space Rua das Gaivotas 6 in Lisbon, a project that hosts creations by new artists.

Pedro Penim’s work – which includes programming, translation, teaching, and lecturer – has been presented at numerous festivals and seasons throughout Portugal, as well as in several countries in Europe, South America, Asia, and the Middle East.

@pedrozegrepenim

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Rui Horta lived for several years in New York, where he completed his training and developed his career as a performer and teacher.

He lived in Germany during the 1990s, and his work was presented in the most important theaters and festivals around the world, such as the Thêatre de la Ville in Paris, which co-produced his works for a decade.

He founded Espaço do Tempo in Montemor-o-Novo.

He has created for numerous companies such as the Ballet Cullberg, the Grand Thêatre de Genève, the Neederlands Dance Theater, etc. His creation has been defined as the Heritage of German Dance.

His work also extends to theater, opera and experimental music, and he is also a lighting designer and multimedia researcher.

After training in dance in Caen and at the CNDC in Angers, Samuel moved to Brussels in 2001 and joined Les Ballets C. de la B., performing in Wolf by Alain Platel, as well as La Mancha, Patchagonia, and Primero/Erscht by Lisi Estaràs.

He then worked with Peeping Tom for the productions Le Salon and Le Sous-Sol.

In 2007, he founded the group ENTORSE with musician Raphaëlle Latini, creating performances such as ACCIDENS (ce qui arrive), [àut], Haute Résilience, and Hantologie.

He collaborates regularly with Boris Charmatz/TERRAIN on projects like 10,000 Gestes, 20 Dancers for the 20th Century, La Ruée, and La Ronde.

In 2014, he co-founded the company demestri+lefeuvre with Florencia Demestri.

Company
The company DEMESTRI + LEFEUVRE brings together Franco-Argentinian dancers and choreographers Florencia Demestri and Samuel Lefeuvre. Their work explores the imaginaries that shape our relationship with the world and living beings.

Through the Nomadic Research Cells, they create encounters to nourish their inquiries beyond traditional frameworks. By exploring non-anthropocentric dramaturgies, D+L invite us to de-hierarchize perception and reactivate a multisensory connection to the world.

©Michiel Devijver
Company DEMESTRI + LEFEUVRE

Simon Mayer is a choreographer, musician, performer, lecturer and curator.

He studied at the ballet school of the Vienna State Opera Ballet School and at the P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and was a member of the Ballet of the Vienna State Opera.

He has been involved in productions by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/Rosas (The Song), Wim Vandekeybus and Zita Swoon, among others.

As a choreographer, his repertoire includes stage pieces, participatory and social art that have been presented internationally (Europe, China, Chile, Canada).

Simon teaches as a guest lecturer at international festivals and universities.

In 2017 he received the Outstanding Artist Award of the Austrian Federal Chancellery and in 2018 the Recognition Award of the Province of Upper Austria.

©Franzi Kreis
site – Simon Mayer

SOFIA DIAS E VÍTOR RORIZ are a duo of artists collaborating since 2006. The hybrid nature of their research, connected to a strong curiosity and need for experimentation, led them to create several shows, performances, videos, podcasts and installations, crossing different contexts and blurring limits between artistic fields.

Their performances conceived for stage, summon up a particular choreographic language in relation to text and voice, as manifested in the pieces A gesture that is nothing but a threat 2011 (Prix Jardin d’Europe and 1ºAerowaves Spring Forward) and What does not happen 2018, both still touring. With approximately 30 projects conceived over the last 16 years, Sofia and Vítor spread their research to other mediums and contexts, such as radio and sound pieces, video works, or in the series of performances, Arremesso. A series that searches for reactivating and re-signifying the archive of gestures, movements, texts, musics, soundscapes, voices and “states of presence” they have been collecting throughout their collaboration.

Sofia and Vítor regularly run workshops and classes in Portugal and abroad. Since 2010 they keep a close relationship with Fórum Dança (Lisboa), where they were invited to make the curatorship of the second edition of PACAP – Advanced Program of Creation in Performing Arts (2018/19) and by whom they were challenged for the curatorship of the 6th edition of the same Program in 2023.

As a duo, they were invited to collaborate with several artists, such as Catarina Dias, Lilia Mestre, Lara Torres, Gonçalo Waddington and Carla Maciel, Marco Martins and Clara Andermatt, Marco Martins, Mark Tompkins, Tim Etchells, Felipe Hirsch (Opera Orphée). They have been collaborating regularly with Tiago Rodrigues as performers in Antony and Cleopatra 2014 and Sopro 2017.

In 2020 they did movement assistance for the piece Catarina e a beleza de matar fascistas and are now working on a new piece with the same author. Since the beginning of their collaboration they are supported by many different structures: O Espaço do Tempo, Bomba Suicida and Materiais Diversos. Along these years they have enjoyed the significant support of the European networks Looping, TRANSFER, Aerowaves, Open Latitudes, Modul Dance, ONDA and Départs.

In 2020, they’ve developed the project Infiltration at Teatro do Bairro Alto that concluded with the piece Escala. In 2022 they were Featured Artists at GUIDance Festival.

In 2022/2023 Sofia and Vítor will be “Novos Inquilinos” [New tenants] at Teatro Viriato in Viseu. Their next piece, NEVERODDOREVEN, in collaboration with Filiz Sizanli and Mustafa Kaplan will premiere in November at Alkantara Festival and will be presented in Viseu, Paris and Porto.

Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz are associate members of REDE – Associação de Estruturas para a Dança Contemporânea [Contemporary Dance Structure’s Association].

©Joana Linda
site – Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz

Tereza Lenerová is a choreographer and performer based in Prague. She graduated from The Theaterschool in Amsterdam in 2007.

With her  Variable, she immediately qualified for Aerowaves Spring Forward.

To continue experimenting, she co-founded Studio Truhlárna, a space that supports emerging dance and theater artists at the beginning of their careers and where she has been creating her original projects: Swish, was awarded ‘Dance Production of the Year 2017′ by the international jury at the Czech Dance Platform; and Don’t Stop, which received special recognition from the jury at the Czech Dance Platform 2019 and was included in the Aerowaves Twenty21 selection.

Lenerová had two premieres in 2021, dis pla y, created in collaboration with Jitka Čechová; and There is a Sense of Being.

Her latest work, Glove Concern, is again in collaboration with musician Floex, thus deepening their artistic collaboration.

©Murat Durum
site – Teresa Lenerová

Vera Mantero studied classical dance with Anna Mascolo and was a member of the Gulbenkian Ballet between 1984 and 1989. She started choreographing in 1987 and, since 1991, has become a benchmark of the New Portuguese Dance; presenting her solo and group work all over Europe, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, South Korea and the USA.

Of her solo work, special mention goes to “Perhaps she could dance first and think afterwards” (1991), “Olympia” (1993), “one mysterious Thing, said e.e.cummings” (1996), “What can be said about Pierre” (2011), “The Caldeirão Highlanders, exercises in fictional anthropology” (2012) and “Rich Bread” (2017). Her group pieces include “Under” (1993), “For Boring and Profound Sadnesses” (1994), “Poetry and Savagery” (1998), “k(ɘ) su’pɔɾtɐ i s(ɘ)ˈpaɾɐ i kõˈtɐj uʃ dojʃ mu’duʃ i õ’dulɐ” (2002), “Until the moment when God is destroyed by the extreme exercise of beauty” (2006), “We are going to miss everything we don’t need” (2009), “The Propitiatory Practices of Future Events” (2018), and “Splendour and Dysmorphia” (2019) created with Jonathan Uliel Saldanha for Festival d’Avignon. Also noteworthy is the project “SURREPTITIOUS (clandestine body)” conceived with Ana Borralho & João Galante, Rita Natálio and Joclécio Azevedo.

In 2013 and 2014 Mantero created the performance installations “Shadows on offer” and “More or Less, but Less than More”, this last piece was presented in two different versions: one which occupies the whole space of the auditorium – seating and proscenium – in 2013, and another which created urban vegetable gardens for the final presentation of the project in 2014. “More or Less, but Less than More” was created in partnership with Culturgest and Maria Matos Teatro Municipal, under the scope of the Create to Connect project financed by the European Commission. These projects, as well as “The Clean and The Dirty” – which premiered in 2016 at Maria Matos Teatro Municipal as part of the cycle “The Three Ecologies” and was co-commissioned by Vera Mantero with Mark Deputter and Liliana Coutinho – clearly reflect the choreographer’s concerns for fundamental issues such as the environment, economic sustainability, social cohesion and inclusion, and Citizenship. In 2018, Mantero was chosen by Esglobal and Fundación Avina to be part of the List of the Most Influential Ibero-American Intellectuals, devoted that year to professionals who contributed in the fields of environmental, economic, political and/or social sustainability. In 2020, she created the performance-conference “Jurisplâncton”, in the framework of the research developed at the Terra Batida network (proposed by Rita Natálio/Marta Lança) – to raise awareness of our individual and collective sense of ecology, the understanding of environmental crimes, and the role of the rights of nature; this piece would later be presented as “All you need is plankton”. In 2021, she realized her last major creation, “The Fright is a Whole World”, which was highly acclaimed by the public and critics, considered one of the Best Dance Pieces of 2021 by Claúdia Galhós (Expresso newspaper) and Alexandra Balona (Público newspaper). In 2023, in co-creation with Teresa Silva, she developed ” A small composition exercise”, which premiered in Lisbon as part of BoCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts 2023. In this piece they used a set piece, two iron rings 2m in diameter, from the 2021 show that had not been used during the performance to explore, in the form of a poetic exercise, the relationship between form and content, between solid and air, the crossing of the body and its image in the relationship with the iron rings.

Her artistic work has been widely recognized with institutional prizes such as the Prémio Almada (Ministry of Culture, 2002) and the Prémio Gulbenkian Arte for her career as a creator and performer (2009), as well as through initiatives such as the retrospective organized by Culturgest in 1999, titled “Month of March, Month of Vera”, or being selected to be represent Portugal at the 26th São Paulo Art Biennial (2004) with the work “Eating your heart out” co-created with the sculptor Rui Chafes. In 2014, the influential Brazilian newspaper O Globo elected “The Caldeirão Highlanders, exercises in fictional anthropology” as one of the best 10 dance pieces presented that year. The city of Fundão dedicated a year to the artist (April 2015 – April 2016) with the project “Passage #2”, which included Mantero performing several pieces of her work, a project with local students and the restaging of “Eating your heart out” in a treetop walkway in Fundão. This new version, entitled “Eating your heart out in the trees” was presented in 2016 at Jardim da Sereia in Coimbra, for which Rui Chafes created a new sculpture. In 2019, it was presented in theatrical venues taking the name “Eating your heart out on stage”.

Since 2014, Mantero, together with Jorge Andrade and Pedro Penim, has been part of the cast of the Portuguese version of “Quizoola!” by Tim Etchells/Forced Entertainment. She was invited by Boris Charmatz to be part of “20 Dancers for the 20th Century”, a living archive of the defining choreographic solos of the 20th century, that took place at the Tate Modern (London) and at the Paris Opera/Palais Garnier (Paris) in 2015, at the Staatsoper, Tanzkongress (Hannover) and at the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid) in 2016, and at the IVAM – Institut Valencià d’ Art Modern (Valencia) in 2019. Mantero regularly participates in international improvisation projects alongside improvisers and choreographers such as Lisa Nelson, Mark Tompkins, Meg Stuart and Steve Paxton.

Since 2000, Mantero has also explored vocal work, whether singing the repertoire of different songwriters or co-creating experimental music projects. In 2024, Orfeu Negro published “Vera Mantero – Matérias. Forças. Imaginário”, a monograph about her work, with particular emphasis on her “Composition Scheme”, made up of texts by João dos Santos Martins, Daniel Tércio, Peter Pál Pelbart, Bojana Kunst and Ana Godinho.

She regularly teaches composition and improvisation in Portugal and abroad.

“For me, dance is not a given fact. I believe that the less I acquire it, the closer I will be to it. I use dance and performance work to understand what I need to understand. I don’t see any sense anymore in a performer specialised in a single discipline (a dancer or an actor or a singer or a musician) and I now see more sense in a performer specialized in the whole. Life is a terribly complicated and rich phenomenon and I see the work I do as a continuous fight against the impoverishment of the spirit, both mine and others, a fight that I consider essential now and always.”
Vera Mantero

©NVStudio
O Rumo do Fumo – Vera Mantero