Zona Franca
Inspired by all kinds of venues where people gather, from religious gatherings to rave parties, choreographer Alice Ripoll and company Cia Suave create the ultimate play space, a zona franca. In it, dances and types of music from the youth culture in contemporary Brazil propel each other to steam power.
Festival Julidans
Programme section Julidans On Stage
Dutch premier
Location Internationaal Theater Amsterdam
Venue Rabozaal
Run time 75 minutes
Genre Dance
Language Language no problem
CONTEXT
Gustavo Ciriaco in conversation with Alice Ripoll
Date 11 July
Time after the performance
Language English
Zona Franca
With Zona Franca, dance company Cia Suave from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro brings a political and poetic total experience with exciting Brazilian dance and music styles in the pressure cooker. The vibrant eclectic mix resounds with untamed energy: the call for freedom from a young and contemporary Brazil, eager to rise from the ashes.
Passinho, with its ultra-fast footwork, the tight rhythms of dancinha, confident vogue, samba and hip-hop are favourites among Brazilian youth. Dance and music styles are the perfect means of expression to quench the thirst for life and express the desire for freedom. Alice Ripoll combines this eruption of zest for life with theatre and song to make the call of the new generation deafening.
-|-
We seem to find ourselves at an after-party, at that half-awake moment in the morning where everyone descends into their own world. But when the confetti balloons start popping and the party guests manage to challenge each other while twerking, one big pulsating ritual emerges that moves back and forth between vulnerability, anger, and joy. Zona Franca is an overtly political dance piece. It is about hope and optimism in a time of transition between Brazilian presidents Bolsonaro and Lula. How can a community develop in a damaged social context?
'(...) a powerful statement of contemporary dance embodied in contemporary bodies, leaving one to wonder how to define today's Brazil: a volcanic eruption of rhythms and identities trying to figure out what follows' - Dance Art Journal
About Alice Ripoll
Alice Ripoll graduated from the Angel Vianna’s school, an important center for dance and motor rehabilitation, and started to work as a choreographer. She has worked with dancers, actors and circus artists. Her work embraces contemporary dance and urban dance styles from Brazil. Through research, the work opens space for the dancers to transform the experiences and memories that live in each one, into images. Currently she’s directing two groups. Cia. REC and Cia. SUAVE. Founded in 2009, Cia REC is a powerful group of dancers from the Favelas in Rio de Janeiro that elaborates and recreates contemporary art. Their work is on the threshold of dance and performance. With Cia REC, Alice Ripoll created the performance aCORdo in 2017, that will also be presented during Julidans 2024.
CREDITS
choreography Alice Ripoll
performers Gabriel Tiobil, GB Dançarino Brabo, Hiltinho Fantástico, Katiany Correia, Maylla Eassy, Petersonsidy, Romulo Galvão, Tamires Costa, Thamires Candida, VN Dançarino Brabo
assistant directors Alan Ferreira and Thais Peixoto
light design Tomás Ribas and Diana Joels
set and costume design Raphael Elias
assistant costume designer and seamstress Gabriel Alves
soundtrack Alice Ripoll & Alan Ferreira
sound technician and rehearser Renato Linhares
illustration and designer Caick Carvalho
photos Renato Mangolin
-|-
production Natasha Corbelino, Corbelino Cultural
executive production Milena Monteiro
production assistant Thais Peixoto
co-production Festival de Marseille, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Charleroi Danse, RomaEuropa, Tandem Scène nationale, tanzhaus nrw, Teatro Municipal do Porto, Julidans, Les Mécènes DanseAujourdhui
diffusion ART HAPPENS