Pearl Without a Girl
Pérola Sem rapariga
© Filipe Ferreira
Pérola Sem Rapariga results from the collaboration between director Zia Soares and writer Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida, drawing inspiration from "Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems" by African American author Robin Coste Lewis, and from the photographic archive of Alberto Henschel, a German photographer who settled in Brazil in the second half of the 19th century, known for his series of portraits of the African and Afro-descendant population.
Performed by Filipa Bossuet and Sara Fonseca da Graça, Pérola Sem Rapariga contemplates the relationship between the surface of the body and what we are capable of saying about it, between caption and image, between skin and salvation. Visual artist Kiluanji Kia Henda intervenes in the stage space, installing omens of apocalypse.
In Pérola Sem Rapariga, laughter arises without apparent reason; from laughter springs tears, the tears turn into dreams, and we dive into them like into an ocean. From there, from the oldest laughter, and the possibility of enjoying it after so long, the doors of restless dreams open, leading to the depths of the seas, where lie those who couldn’t laugh.
The idea is to dive into laughter and wake up on the other side. To fall into laughter as one falls into sleep, and into sleep as one falls into the sea. Or rather, to laugh as one rises, to dust off the knees within dreams, to raise the head within the abyss.”
Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida
© Filipe Ferreira
© Filipe Ferreira
© Filipe Ferreira
Text by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida
Direction and staging by Zia Soares
Performed by Filipa Bossuet, Sara Fonseca da Graça
Visual Artist Kiluanji Kia Henda
Installation and Costumes by Neusa Trovoada
Lighting Design by Carolina Caramelo
Music and Sound Design by Xullaji
Movement Direction Assistance by Lucília Raimundo
General Assistance by Aoaní d'Alva, Mariana Frazão
Promotional Video by António Castelo
Co-production by Sowing_arts,Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, apap – FEMINIST FUTURES
Supported by Casa da Dança, Polo Cultural Gaivotas Boavista
Partners Ciclo Abril Abriu, Comissão Comemorativa dos 50 anos do 25 de Abril
Zia Soares is an artist supported by apap – FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
Publications
Público/ Ípsilon
RFI
Afrolink
Time Out