Dance not dance: archaeologies of the New Dance in Portugal is a programme dedicated to different manifestations of dance, seeking to situate what in the 1990s was called the New Portuguese Dance. Curated by João dos Santos Martins, Ana Bigotte Vieira, Carlos Manuel Oliveira and Ana Dinger, the programme is divided into three axes, comprising a cycle of events, a book and an exhibition. Each of these strands covers the 20th and early 21st centuries, problematising linear representations of time in their own way (specific to their mediality), echoing the others and showing dances and their histories from different perspectives.

As part of the programme for the dance not dance cycle, the (re)performance of Perhaps she could dance first and think afterwards, a 1991 solo by Vera Mantero, is one of the rare moments of crossover between the protagonists of New Portuguese Dance and the Companhia Nacional de Bailado. In this context, the piece - a solo heavily based on improvisation - is danced by Paulina Santos, a solo dancer with the CNB, to whom Mantero passes it on. The performance took place on 30 October 2023 on the Main Staircase of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

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