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A space dedicated to the exercise of democracy – with all of its rights and wrongs. A space to exchange ideas, a space for dialogue and (why not?) to search for consensus. Most importantly, a space to display the regional diversity that sometimes pulls apart and sometimes brings Brazilian dance closer. All of those can actually be found in the same place: Pré-Conferência Setorial de Dança (“Dance Sectoral Pre-Conference”), which took place from Sunday to Tuesday (March 7 to 9), in Brasília.

During three days of conference (on Sunday there was only an opening ceremony), about 2 thousand people circulated through the tents set up at the Ministries Esplanade. Professionals from 14 different artistic languages gathered to discuss issues related to their areas, choose delegates and trace strategies to be presented at the II Conferência Nacional de Cultura (CNC – “National Culture Conference”), which already starts this Thursday (11/03)

“Diversity is Brazil’s greatest asset. We will only build a Brazilian identity if we respect differences. We must listen to one another”, declared Culture Minister Juca Ferreira during the opening ceremony.

To discuss the present and the future of dance, more than 150 professionals, among teachers, producers, dancers and choreographers from every state got together. Besides debating strategies in the five proposed axis (Symbolic Production and Diversity, Culture, City and Citizenship; Culture and Sustainable Development; Culture and Creative Economy; and Culture Management and Institutionalization), the participants voted on the delegates who will participate in the II CNC and the new names that will compose the Sectoral Dance Electoral College.

Even with the short time available – which caused weariness and often hurried discussions – the delegates (chosen in assemblies held in their states) still managed to make political advances, such as the election of the Dance Electoral College and to bring more visibility for the North, Northeastern and Mid-Western regions during the II CNC. That is because each of these regions won the right to send more than one delegate to the National Conference.

Parallel to the discussions about the strategies that should be sent to CNC, the National Dance Plan ended up getting much attention during the assembly. With a temporary text ready since the middle of 2009, the document elaborated by the time’s Sectoral Dance Electoral College is still waiting to be put up for public consultation, where it must stay for at least 45 days.

“Our focus is on the Plan, we must assure the permanence of the project and its ready availability for public consultation. We hope the new Electoral College will continue our work. In general, the methodology of the pre-conferences is fragile, with a very restricted space for dialogue. But we must learn to work with our differences, to think in collaborative way”, analyses researcher Lúcia Matos, who was part of the Electoral College for the last two years and participated in the Plan’s preparation.

Another theme that generated much worry during the encounter – and resulted in extra meetings – was the renewal of the Electoral Collee. It was an honorable worry, since the chosen representatives will be the direct dialogue channel with the Culture Ministry (MinC) in the next two years. After a tense voting session, to say the least, 15 names were chosen to compose the new Electoral College, which was divided as follows: five delegates for each region, nine delegates divided in the areas of Training, Creation and Production and one extra delegate from the previous College.

Delegates/substitute for each region:

Northern region Meire Maria Monteiro Reis (TO) / Silvestre Antônio Gomes Santos (RO)

Northeastern region Liana Gesteira Costa (PE) / Maria Sofia Vilas Boas Guimarães (BA)

Mid-western region
Rosa Maria Leonardo Coimbra (NATO) / Kelson Joemir Panosso dos Passos (MT)

Southern region Marilia Annibelli Vellozo (PR) / Marta César (NATO)

Southeastern region Solange Borelli (SP) / Lourdes Braga de Souza Carijó (NATO)

By area:

Training Dulce Aquino (BA) / Valéria Figueiredo (GO) Cássia Navas (SP) / Mônica Dantas (PR)
Ana Cláudia Pinto (PA) / Denise Acquarone (RJ)

Creation Silvia Moura (CE) / João Fernandes (AM)
Marcos Moraes (SP) / Berenice Cruzeiro (RS)
Denise Parra (MS) / Luciana Caetano (GO)

Production
Claudir Cruz (RR) / Hipólito Lucena (PB)
Marise Siqueira (RS) / André Durand (AM)
Sacha Witkowski (GO) / Leonardo Serra (ES)

15th delegate
Lúcia Matos (BA) / Rosane Gonçalves (RS)

The preoccupation with the National Dance Plan also appears in the strategies traced by the participants of the Pre-Conference. One of the proposals for the five axis of the CNC is exactly to “make sure that the complete version of the Dance Sectoral Plan (…) is available for public consultation for at least 45 days and that all suggestions and changes are considered by the new members of the Dance Sectoral Electoral College, and its final version is legitimized by the legislature as a matter of urgency”.

Even with all the time restrictions, Marcelo Bones, director of FUNARTE’s performing art department, the result of the Pre-Conference was positive. “We were able to fulfill all four of the mandatory responsibilities, which were to define the delegates fro the CNC, to promote debates about the proposals, to renew to Electoral College and discuss the Sectoral Plan. I think the meeting brought a new breath, more articulation, new themes emerged”, he evaluates.

The II National Culture Conference starts this Thursday (11/03) and will go on until Sunday (14/03), with the participation of the delegates chosen during the Pre-Conference.