Christophe Wavelet e Cecilia Salles / Foto: Edouard Fraipont

Inquietações no Rumos Dança

Novos e instigantes processos de pesquisa (crítica escrita por Helena Katz no jornal O Estado de São Paulo do dia 23/03/10)

Rumos Itaú’s Mostra de Processos (“Process showcase”) ended on Sunday (14/03). More than a meeting space for artists and researchers, it sparked an important discussion about the format proposed by the program, which focused on the creative process instead of the final product, as it usually happens. The result was that everybody started wondering: what is the creative process exactly? How can it be shown? Is the audience interested?

“Process is a term used not only in the arts, but also in the economic and scientific fields. It means an organized set of exchanges that influences changes in something and may have many stages”, defined French researcher and critic Christophe Wavelet, in the lecture Experimentação e Pesquisa nos Espetáculos Processuais (“Experimentation and Research in Processual Shows”), as part of the showcase’s program. “When we speak of more complex processes in art, the distinction between process and product is very arbitrary”, he says.

He remembered there had been much debate in France in the 80’s about what would be a choreographic piece in process. But today this subject already burned out. “When I learned I would come to Brazil, I wondered if this would be an issue for Brazilian contemporary dance. I talked to many artists and theorists and found out there is much in both countries. I asked myself about the understanding of process many times, but I don´t have an answer…”, said Christophe.

Cecília Almeida Salles, a professor at PUC-SP, offered another view about the subject, which comes closer to the way of showing this step of creation. She analyzed the blogs created by the artists during the work – a new requirement of this edition of the program – highlighting interesting aspects of the tool’s use. “I searched for specificities and differences in the relationship between piece and process. I noticed the word has been trivialized, which ends up attributing value to something. Every creation has a process attached to it, but we can´t quantify it, say that one is more than the other”, she explained.

According to Cecilia’s analysis, the blogs served as a space to document the artists’ reflections and had a place within the creative process itself. “They worked in parallel with the research”. She also observed that one of the main doubts was related to the way of showing the work. “Many artists made clear that the problem was making the process public and that created some fear”.

Michel Groisman presented the performance-installation Órgão during the showcase, a partnership with Gabriela Duvivier. For him the biggest difficulty is establishing an end for the process. “What is the final art piece? Is there a final moment? At each moment it seems like it can change…”, he reflects. “In the case of Rumos, I think it´s easier to deal with internal pressure to have something ready to present. I felt at ease not being in the ideal place. The process is ongoing”, he argues.

Four ‘processes’ will continue

According to the program’s regulation, four out of the 21 works will receive more funds to keep working on the research in the following months. The projects are Piranha: Dramaturgia da Migração , by Wagner Schwartz (MG); Espaço como Fluxos de Possibilidades , by Clube Ur=H0r (MG); Coleta de Vestígios , by Marta Soares (SP); and Transformers , by Thelma Bonavita (SP). The selection process was composed by Alejandro Ahmed, Christine Greiner, Marcelo Evelin and Vera Sala. They considered the following aspects: maturity of the research; importance and relevance for the research’s continuity; clarity of the issues investigated. Each one will receive R$ 40.000 to deepen the research, whose new phase will be presented in the first week of December.

Sônia Sobral, manager of performing arts at Itaú Cultural, considers this edition is one of the best. “I still don´t know exactly why, but it has something to do with maturity and availability, both the program and everyone that came here. The next step is to think about the publication of the results, which will be distributed to cultural and learning institutions around the country”.