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It would be impossible to leave the II Dance Economy Seminar, held in Rio de Janeiro from November 9 to 11, without countless questions – old and new -, without feeling restless with the speeches of the participants about the thematic axis chosen for the meeting. Helena Katz brought the importance of building a discourse to answer questions that arise when we think about dance in a product-consumption logic and not in a process-creation one, reverberating Clanclini’s speech about the urgency of creating what he called a task schedule. It is also enlightening and instigating to think about Christophe Wavelet speaking of how “the power of an art piece can´t be diminished by the mainstream media, and by the politicians that govern us” , asking to what extent Festivals play the game of entertainment and globalized tourism and lead us to ignore the fact that an art piece, in its aesthetic experience, is a proposal of defamiliarization and cannot be an act of instant consumption. It was invigorating to hear the reports and alerts presented during the event, in which we witnessed the strength of remembering some achievements and the enunciation of striking challenges, such as the issues of informality and the importance of conceptual handling of situations experienced.

In the work groups, unfoldments emerged from the acknowledgement of the relevance and urgency of promoting development and strengthening the community through a mapping of the existing networks in local forums, as well as creating strategies for disseminating information. For instance, through dance economy seminars in many cities around the country during the next year. And the names kept coming up… Recife, Salvador, Goiânia, Rio de Janeiro, Ceará, Piauí. I was excited and I invested in the idea of naming Manaus as a candidate. After all, we won the right to co-host the 2014 World Cup, we are the seventh economy among the country’s capitals and the Free Economic Zone has been obtaining reasonable revenue results. All the information configures an excellent situation for business in the most traditional sectors of society. A favorable environment to display markers and generate debates, if it wasn´t for the fact that the term “dance economy” sounds so foreign to the reality of likely investors. Since then I have been reflecting about ways to convince the city, its inhabitants, its institutions, its businessmen, that this is a good investment, a very high quality business. So I thought about developing some considerations that could serve as impulse for argumentative thinking that would be inviting to still unprecedented endeavors in the capital of Amazonas.

First moment. We must talk about where things are working. Núcleo do Dirceu, from Piauí, is the first thing that comes to mind. An amazing bet on creative procedures that show movement freshness and winning resistance to coarse and blunt politicians. I am an unconditional fan of Dirceu’s work. Who knows, maybe I could show some videos to intended partners and convince them that it is possible to create aesthetics impregnated with our urban and forestal experience, free from the caricatures of shallow regionalism. I also mention the wonderful experience of Café das Marias, in Ceará, investing in solidarity economy with its alternative currency, facing daily the challenge of thinking about how to assign value to cultural work. And I finish with the examples of Festival Diagnóstico, reported by Sacha Witkowski and its resistance to the difficulties in Goiânia… Look! The Northeast and the Midwest regions, exactly those that, along with the North region, only receive 20% of the attention of BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank), according to a statement from our senators last October 19th. It is good to think that such results could be much increased if there were proper conditions for creation.

Second moment. We could remember that in the Amazon a new dance scene emerged in Manaus after the end of the 1990’s, with the creation of Corpo de Dança do Amazonas and Ballet Folclórico, the stable companies of the Amazonas Theater and later, the dance graduation course in the Amazon State University, in 2001. The Seminar would be an excellent opportunity for evaluating the current times, the tension points, as well as the struggle for the survival of independent groups, among which I mention Índios.com Cia. de Dança, Pesquisa Cênica Corporal Uma, Corpo de Arte Contemporânea and the Companhia de Intérpretes Independentes. The answer I immediately received from the directors and choreographers of these groups from Manaus when I asked them by e-mail to talk about the maintenance of groups and show productions made clear the need to expose problems and share experiences, seeking to jointly think about some alternatives to the almost exclusive dependency on national and local grant programs. A situation that is far from being endemic, since it takes place in other cities of the country.

Third moment. Externalizing the value of the artistic profession. Its influence in building citizenship and a critic, instigating, restless body, ready for rebellious and creative actions… able to dialogue continuously with the environment. And I return to Christophe Wavelet’s initial speech warning us about the fact that merchandise, products, demand a mere prolonging of the self, while in artistic experience one seeks defamiliarization of what we were and what we think we are, allowing movement, creating opportunities for autonomy. After all, isn´t this the longed for, and at the same time, frustrated goal of our official learning institutions? Maybe this is the point in which there is more tension in trying to convince partners, because it implicates investing in a different logic, one that puts the human being in the first place and financial gain in second. A procedure that scandalizes capitalism! But it´s worth trying…

Finally, taking advantage of networks and recognizing their potential to promote a flood of encounters, as well as the urgency to benefit from the collective construction of thought, be it virtual or real time, I make an invitation to the north region and specially Manaus for us to nurture ourselves with some – or many other – reasons to organize a Dance Economy Seminar in 2010. Of course I´m defending my territory. But we can also extend to every other state the question: why is it important to have a Dance Economy Seminar in your city? So I propose we work together, creating a whirlpool of synapsis…