Crítica publicada no Jornal do Brasil

Territórios

Jornal do Brasil – 11/08/2006

Open Territories for Male Expression

Eight dancers. Eight Men. Eight different territories. That is the scene which is built within the new work of the choreographer Esther Weitzman, Territories, recently staged on Teatro Nelson Rodrigues and on Espaço Cultural Sérgio Porto and now, it is on Centro Coreográfico. A Dance, which is strictly male and at the same time absolutely contemporary, creates the opportunity to glaze upon the strength on how Esther’s movement vocabulary finds a safe stand point within those bodies.

The dancers, especially invited for the work, accepted the challenge of being together on stage, but never building up only one body, as a group, in Ballet Dance with what we are used to. Those are bodies with several histories, with muscle and kinetic qualities so unique that they offer themselves as maps of Dance always plural. The whole range of these physical possibilities were wisely thought by the choreographer, who manages different maturities (and, because of this, competences) through using the idea of tradition.

This can be seen at the very beginning, when “escravos de Jó”, a Brazilian children game, is brought into scene. The sense of responsibility to make the game succeed, from an individual contribution which heads towards the collective, draws the north of the choreography on the way to this tradition. The references to Jewish dances, raw material which has been being polished by Esther since Terras, her choreography from 1999, reaches the dimension of the male body, rooting itself more and more in this sense of tradition. A tradition of today, pulverized, diverse, globalized. A contemporary tradition.

And from these very especial moments arise, like the ones that offer the privilege to show such an experienced interpreter as Alexandre Franco dancing, a dancer and a choreographer who has got the whole thought of Dance rather well established, besides the young, and excellent, Felipe Padilha. Two places so fulfilled with singularities are, there, revealed. Or else, when we are able to see the maturity with which the dancers Marcellus Ferreira and Marcelo Lopes gives to the scene their parts of history, in such a generous way.

The territories unmasked through Esther Weitzman’s choreography are there at the same time in a raw and prompt status. The rhythmic movements, the silences and the group dances, elements which are the trade mark in Esther’s work, reached, now, a vigorous translation on the male bodies. And they do stir up the hope that these territories, without loosing their tradition and their history, can share, one day, the same space. It is that what is said by this Dance.

Roberto Pereira 


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