dance / music
Music and dance circulate without limits in the Zona Franca. Result of a partnership between gnration, Theatro Circo and Centro Cultural Vila Flor, this new interdisciplinary cycle is the free territory where authorial music and choreographic practice manifest themselves in a continuous and multiform dialog. Throughout 2025, in Braga and Guimarães, this new cycle will present collaborations between performer-choreographers and performer-musicians who experiment with different techniques to present different artistic proposals.
vera mantero & susana santos silva
“Two bodies in movement, suspended in time, flowing in space, breathing, bewildered. The trumpet as prolonged breathing, the voice as expanding life. The gesture speaks loud and clear. Impermanence feeds the moment, while we struggle to catch the magic that overwhelms.” Susana Santos Silva
Vera Mantero and Susana Santos Silva come together for the first time on stage to present an interdisciplinary work, created from an improvisation project on movement, gestures and words. This performance, which premieres the day before at GUIdance – International Festival of Contemporary Dance (Guimarães), is a rare opportunity to cross the imaginary of the two creators, both essential names in their artistic fields.
A choreographer and dancer with a career spanning almost forty years, Vera Mantero is one of the leading names in the so-called New Portuguese Dance. Her work has been presented all over the world, including the Portuguese representation at the 26th São Paulo Biennial with Comer o coração, created in partnership with Rui Chafes. In 2002, she won the Almada Prize (IPAE/Ministry of Culture) and, in 2009, the Gulbenkian Art Prize for her career as a creator and performer. Since 2000 she has also dedicated herself to voice work, singing repertoire by various authors and co-creating experimental music projects.
Described by Downbeat as “one of the most interesting improvisers on the planet”, Susana Santos Silva is a key name on the European jazz scene. With influences ranging from classical and contemporary music to textural sound art, the trumpeter expands the sonic possibilities of her instrument and dissolves the boundaries between perception, genre and media. In addition to her solo work, she has collaborated with names such as Kaja Draksler, Torbjörn Zetterberg, Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, Joëlle Léandre, Mat Maneri, Paul Lovens, Mats Gustafsson, Sten Sandell, Catherine Christer Hennix and Hamid Drake.
partnership
vila flor cultural center, gnration and theatro circo
artistic creation residency
arts center buda, kortrijk, belgium
support portuguese republic – culture / directorate-general for the arts. rtcp – network of portuguese theatres and cinemas
