CCL – Centro Cultural de Lagos Fri 4 NOV, 21h30 Dance / 2016 / M12
The Caldeirão Highlanders – Exercises in fictional anthropology addresses the process of desertification / depopulation of the Caldeirão Mountains in the Algarve. Combining her own video with film by Michel Giacometti, and in particular footage on the subject of work songs, Vera Mantero casts a perceptive eye over traditional and rural practices as well as on the oral cultures of Portugal and of other continents.
The whole piece is populated by voices that come from afar. Silence. The hills. With this sensitive portrait of the people of the Serra do Caldeirão, Vera Mantero speaks to us of people who possess a wisdom we are losing, a wisdom that links body and spirit, everyday life and art – a wisdom that we can (and should, for our own sake) revive.
Concept and Performance: Vera Mantero
Light Design: Hugo Coelho
Image production and video script: Vera Mantero
Video Editing: Hugo Coelho
Video Excerpts from the complete filmography of Michel Giacometti: Salir (Serra do Caldeirão), Cava da Manta (Coimbra), Dornelas (Coimbra), Teixoso (Covilhã), Manhouce (Viseu), Córdova de S. Pedro Paus (Viseu) and Portimão (Algarve)
Excerpts from texts by: Antonin Artaud, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Jacques Prévert e Vera Mantero
Excerpts from texts by: Centro de Experimentação Artística – Lugar Comum / Fábrica da Pólvora de Barcarena / Câmara Municipal de Oeiras e DeVIR / CaPA / Faro
Co-production: DeVIR / CaPA
Production: O Rumo do Fumo
Thanks to: Editora Tradisom
This project was commissioned by Encontros do DeVIR da DeVIR / CaPA
Vera Mantero studied classical dance with Anna Mascolo and was part of Ballet Gulbenkian between 1984 and 1989. She became one of the central figures of the Nova Dança Portuguesa and began her career as a choreographer in 1987.
Her work has been seen throughout Europe and in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, South Korea, the USA and Singapore. Since 2000 she has also dedicated herself to voice work, singing the repertoire of various songwriters and creating, with others, experimental music projects. In 1999 Culturgest organised a retrospective of her work to date, entitled Mês de Março, Mês de Vera.
She represented Portugal at the 26th S.Paulo Biennial, in 2004, with Comer o Coração – Eating your heart out, created in partnership with Rui Chafes. In 2002 she was awarded the Portuguese Ministry of Culture’s Almada Prize, and in 2009 the Gulbenkian Art Prize for her career as creator and performer.