A3 / Foto divulgação

I have been following the contemporary dance production in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (in the south region of Brazil) more effectively since the 80′s when I started to study theater. At that time, I started to become fascinated by creators like Carlota Albuquerque (Terpsí), Guelho Menezes (Balleto), Dagmar Dornelles, and, soon afterwards, by Andréa Druck, Ivan Motta, Eva Schul, Jussara Miranda. After almost 20 years, some are no longer working in the dance scene and, fortunately, others are still active. I believe in a cultural context nourished by the artistic flow that takes place between tradition and rupture and since I recognize a certain established tradition in dance, I have been having some difficulty seeing a new generation show its face, even in the 21st century.

Yes, in the 90′s other choreographers, like myself, appeared to venture in this new landscape. Eduardo Severino, Tatiana da Rosa, Cibele Sastre, Luciana Paludo, Heloísa Bertolli, Luciane Coccaro, all those who were around as dancers and students in that time I mentioned before. A kind of transition generation, nourished by schools, traditional state groups and companies, who were searching (hitting or missing) new languages, news ways to operate, allowing themselves to take chances, after all – a difficult task for what had been established and essential for art to enjoy new conditions of possibilities. But this “transition”, from my perspective, is already taking a little too long and I felt the need of something that could show the repercussion of that environment, be it in its continuation, in its unfolding, in its denial, in its re-elaboration.

So, since 2007 it was with great satisfaction that I started to notice the mobilization of young creators who started to show up. Maybe they only have in common the fact they are all in their twenties and allow themselves to invest in dance creation around here. They bring different aesthetic proposals to their work, very particular perspectives and singular connections.

I start off talking about three female creators, which is already a peculiar characteristic of the piece A3. A collaborative production by performers and choreographers Juliana Vicari, Thaís Alves and Carol Laner. All three are graduates in dance from Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul (Fundarte/UERGS), with consistent, creative and sensitive research in the field of creation. The piece was presented at Sala Álvaro Moreyra, for only three nights in June and reached a result far beyond the juxtaposition of each one’s work. The trio potentiated the issues present in each one’s work: the improvisation, the task proposals, scenic presence state, the many perceptions of those bodies. The result is smart, filled with a dignity (and I know this word may be a bit forgotten, but it makes all the difference in today’s world), translating performers that, with all their youth, turn out to be mature, honest and totally “in charge” of the proposal. So much “in charge” that the explicit references to the aesthetics (and ethics) of the people from Judson Church find a very personal expression, with their very own signature. They are bodies willing to take a risk, but with confidence and control, as revealed by the delicious scene in which they literally roll around in a mattress in the middle of the stage.

Coming from an abruptly interrupted university enterprise in dance at the ULBRA dance graduation, Gustavo Silva, from New School Dreams, had his training and production established in the street dance environment. However, his piece La chronic, presented last May in Dança de Domingo, at Teatro de Câmara, revealed a creator willing to cross and blur borders, even if that was not his goal. With choreographies that make the street dance vocabulary a springboard to explore the possibilities of bodies moving in space, he builds a dense and at the same time good-humored piece. La chronic investigates daily life, translating into dance the universe of chronicles. The show puts daily life and its upheavals on stage in vibrant choreographies with technical precision, punctuated with poetic fragments. On top of that, the piece reveals precocious talents, like dancers Cauan Rossoni and Josyane Ramos, among others.

The images in Bondage are unsettling. Half-naked women, tied up, gagged in a territory of sensuality and oppression. Choreographer Douglas Jung dives into this universe, in the piece that was part of Grupo Gaia’s Incubadora de novos coreógrafos project, presented in June, at Sala Álvaro Moreyra. Douglas had already waved with an irreverent piece at Mostra de Dança Verão, in which a little of everything was dropped on stage, from rubber boots to a watermelon that crushed on the ground, to the sound of Marisa Monte’s Diariamente. In Bondage, the young choreographer makes a more visually refined exercise and shows he is skillful in conducting performers through tortuous paths, in the borderline between pain and pleasure. Besides Douglas, Incubadora also showed the pieces Sobre vomitar coelhinhos, by Maria Albers and Luiza Moares – willing to take risks – and Não se Pode Amar, Gozar e Ser Feliz ao Mesmo Tempo, by Fabiane Vanoni.

Bondage / Foto divulgação

Bondage / Foto divulgação

But this new generation has been reveling itself not only in the capital. In Montenegro, Trupe Xipô brought the show Por VocêPor você chooses to work with a mixture of languages: dance, theater, circus and live music. Humor and lyrism set the tone and results in a vibrant and seductive show. to the stage, with research and creation by Suzana Schoellkopf (an active actress and dancer who finally takes a chance as creator) and Márcio Barreto. Both bring to stage the result of their graduation projects from Licenciatura em Dança of Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul (UERGS).

In Canoas, Eduardo Menezes established an original and powerful choreographic work with group Art&Dança. His countless and well finished choreographies won him Festival de Joinville’s best choreographer award in 2007, taking him to Lyon and also to peform in São Pailo. In the same circuit, Matheus Brusa from Caxias do Sul revealed a small masterpiece, Electões, also highlighted at Festival de Joinville and this year he premiered Bipolar, winner of Funarte’s Klauss Vianna award.

These young creators outline a new panorama, with singular proposals, revealing the hability to process, reelaborate, challenge and unfold information and provocation that have been fed to them over the last years. Celebration on one hand, sorrow on the other. On one hand, there is a context for dance starting to widen, with graduations, selection processes for the public school system, projects like Grupo Experimental de Dança de Porto Alegre, Centro Coreográfico do Terpsí, Desdobramentos do ProjetoMax, the people from Usina do Gasômentro’s room 209. However, on the other hand, there are still no companies kept by private investment, the Prêmio de Incentivo às Artes Cênicas do Estado has not been handed out for over 6 years and we count on a flawed Lei de Incentivo Estadual, and on top of everything, deceitful producers have left possible sponsors with a chip on their shoulders.

The generation that wasn’t coming is arriving and maybe they will go soon (Eduardo Menezes is in São Paulo, Carol Laner is in Rio and Douglas Jung is in Germany, but he keeps strong connections with his work here), in case the perspectives for dance in the state don’t settle, widen and point to a possible and stable professional horizon. Welcome and long life to these brave, daring and talented young artists!