© Park Sang Yun

Em Circulação > Olympia by Vera Mantero, 1993

Olympia

by Vera Mantero, 1993

The only description of this piece, given in the original flyer, at the premiere: Vera Mantero, improvisation, 5 minutes.

I think no one in the organisation of the Marathon For Dance had any idea of what I was going to do. And I also think that it did not last only 5 minutes.

The Marathon For Dance is already a historical event, created in 1993 by several dancers and choreographers that had decided to awake the country. For the dance happening in it. When they invited me to participate, I enthusiastically said yes and started to think about what I could do to “awake” the people. At that time I was reading Asphyxiating Culture, by Jean Dubuffet, and it seemed to me absolutely right to read some parts of this book for that occasion to whomever might be present at the Maria Matos Theatre. “But read it how? And won’t it be a bit pretentious, to go there and say I am the one who knows what is true culture, or the best culture? Maybe I should be naked... I must read Dubuffet naked. Glued to the ground in front of a microphone? No, that’s impossible ... Doing what then? Naked...?” This nudity made me think of Manet’s Olympia, which I had just seen at the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, where I was living at the time. “What if it was Olympia reading Dubuffet? Oh, no! how dreadful, everybody will be blaming me for sacrilege on painting, etc., etc...”. I told André Lepecki that I wanted to read Dubuffet naked but didn’t know how to do it without just reading Dubuffet naked. I didn't even talk to him about the painting. Would you believe what he then said? “Oh, Vera, don’t you remember Manet’s Olympia [that we had seen together]? I think you should do something with her.” [!!!]

And that’s what I did.

Vera Mantero

Ficha Artística

Concept and Performance
Vera Mantero
 
Light Design
João Paulo Xavier
 
Light Adaption and Operation
Hugo Coelho - Aldeia da Luz
 
Text
Jean Dubuffet
 
Music
Excerpts of Baka Pygmy music, Cameroon
 
Duration
17 minutes
 
Special thanks to
Ana Mantero and Miguel Ângelo Rocha

Cronologia

5 June 2022, Cycle "What my dance says" dedicated to Vera Mantero by Serralves, Auditorium, Museu de Serralves, Fundação de Serralves, Porto/Portugal
30 June 2019, Festival Inequilibrio, Armunia, Castiglioncello/Italy
15 March 2019, Teatro-Cine de Torres Vedras, Torres Vedras/Portugal
22 June 2018, Colóquio Internacional “O Corpo Nu nas Artes Cénicas: Perspectivas, Trans-Históricas e Críticas”, TAGV, Coimbra/Portugal 
29 June 2017, Festival Junta #3, Teresina/Brazil
10 May 2017, Festival Internacional de Danza Contemporánea de Uruguay, Sala Zavala Muniz, Teatro Solís, Montevideu/Uruguay
6 May 2017, La Friche/Marseille Objectif Danse, Marseille/France
11 - 12 April 2017, Ocupação Mirada, SESC de Ipiranga, São Paulo/Brazil
6 - 7 April 2017, Festival de Curitiba, Teatro da Reitoria, Curitiba/Brazil
24 February 2017, Nova\Velha Dança cycle/Associação Parasita, Teatro Sá da Bandeira, Santarém/Portugal
4 - 7 October 2016, LE CND, Pantin, Île-de-France/France
5 October 2014, Festival Krakow Theatrical Reminiscences, Krakow/Poland
26 June 2013, INFANT Festival, Novi Sad/Serbia
12 April 2013,  Teatro Municipal de Almada, Almada/Portugal
7 December 2012, Natura Dèi Teatri Festival, Parma/Itália
7 November 2012, International Dance Theatres Festival, Lublin/Polónia
14 January 2012, Centro Párraga, Murcia/Spain
14 October 2011, DeVIR/CAPa, “10 anos do CAPa”,  Faro/Portugal
10 October 2010, Festival SIDance, Seoul/South Korea
29 September 2010, Southbank Centre, London/England
14 August 2010, Festival Escrita na Paisagem 17th September, Minde/Portugal, Festival Materiais Diversos, Évora/Portugal
7 May 2010, Teatro de la Laboral, Gijón/Spain
9 January 2010, Tempo Teatro, Portimão/Portugal
24 October 2009, Bienal de Par em Par do Ceará, Fortaleza/Brazil
19 - 20 October 2009, Festival Piccola Europa, Rocca dei Bentivoglio, Bologna/Italy
17 September 2009, Teatro da Cerca de São Bernardo - A Escola da Noite, Coimbra/Portugal
9 - 10 September 2009, Centro Cultural de la Cooperación. Sala Solidaridad, Buenos Aires/Argentina
12 July 2008, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarães/Portugal
8 December 2007, Le Vivat,  Armentières/France
10 - 11 October 2007, IDans Festival, Istanbul/Turkey
17 February 2006, CCN, Rennes/France
8 October 2006, Festival Tensdansa, Terrassa/ Spain
8 June 2005, Teatro Garcia Resende,  Évora/Portugal
20 - 22 May 2005, Dansens Hus,  Oslo/Norway
17 March 2005, Le Lieu Unique, Nantes/ France
14 - 15 January 2005, Casa de América, Madrid/ Spain
8 January 2005, Festival Circular, Vila do Conde/ Portugal
16 - 17 October 2005,  Teatro Sérgio Porto, Rio de Janeiro/ Brazil
2 - 3 October 2004, Teatro Sesc Anchieta, S. Paulo/Brazil
3 September, Teatro Santa Isabel, Recife/Brazil
6 June, Fundação de Serralves,  Porto/Portugal
17 January, Ghent, Vooruit, Belgium/France
22 - 24 November 2002, Théâtre de la Bastille, Paris/France
4 October 2002, ZO Centro Culturale Contemporanee, Catania/ Italy
26 October 2002, ART’UBI, Covilhã/ Portugal
5 - 6 August 2002, ImPulstanz, Vienna/Austria
7 December 2001, Movement Research, E.U.A./New York
14 September 2001, Mousontum, Frankfurt/Germany
17 August 2001, Brigittines Festival,  Brussels/Belgium
1 November 2000, KIASMA Theatre, Helsinki/Finland
9 October 2000, City of Women Festival, Liubliana/Slovenia
7 June 2000, 17th Dance Week Festival,  Zagreb/Croatia
18 May 2000,Théâtre Louis Jouvet, Tours/France
12 March 1999, Culturgest, Mês de Vera, Portugal/ Lisbon
Premiere - 1993, Maratona para a Dança Teatro Nacional Maria Matos, Lisbon/ Portugal

Imprensa

Gilles Amalvi