The 9th Contemporary Dance Festival Opens in São Paulo

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Beginning on October 31st and running through November 13th, the city of São Paulo will host the 9th Festival Contemporâneo de Dança (FDC, or Contemporary Dance Festival) showcasing dozens of performances from dancers from France, Portugal and Brazil, as well as workshops, and talks by choreographers and dancers.

According to organizers, the 9th edition of the festival brings together ‘artists interested in experiencing contemporary dance as the reinvention of common space’.

The festival will be held in three spaces in the city center: Centro Cultural Olido, SESC Bom Retiro and Centro de Referência da Dança (CRD).

In several of the performances, dance interacts with other artistic languages, such as singing and fine arts. In La Bête, choreographed by Paris-based Brazilian choreographer Wagner Schwartz, a plastic sculpture, replica of a work by Lygia Clark, is placed onto the stage and the public is invited to interact with the sculpture.

French choreographer Christian Rizzo and Turkish dancer Kerem Gelebek will present Sakinan, work inspired by the haiku, the short Japanese-origin poems.

This year the festival prepared a special program for the CRD, Centro de Referência da Dança, a symbolic space for dance in the city of São Paulo, focused on coexistence, dialogue, research and exchange on the field of dance. For two weeks twenty dancers will share their creative processes with the public. The project calls for participants put their methods and interests in contact with the work of others, testing limits and possibilities.

In addition to the performances, the festival offers three workshops to be taught by Christian Rizzo, Wagner Schwartz and the Portugal’s Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz.

What: 9th Contemporary Dance Festival, São Paulo
When: October 31st through November 13th
Where: Centro Cultural Olido, SESC Bom Retiro and Centro de Referência da Dança.
Entrance: Free