Artistic Direction: Henrique Amoedo
Dançando com a Diferença is a dance company founded in 2001, in Madeira. Since 2014 it has maintained a close relationship with Teatro Viriato as a Resident Project. In its work on several fronts, both nationally and internationally, Dançando com a Diferença has been at the basis of a relevant artistic, pedagogical and awareness-raising work for social inclusion, which in turn has been successfully received by the public and by enthusiasts of inclusive dance, schools and institutions.
We dance with the body and not in spite of the body
Under the artistic direction of Henrique Amoedo, creator of the INCLUSIVE DANCE concept in an academic context in 2002, health (therapeutic support), education and art walk together in a triad that strives for individual appreciation. These three lines of action or axes contribute to a permanent update of the discourse related to people with disabilities, ensuring that there is room for different bodies and different perspectives in the field of contemporary dance.
Artistic Axis
The artistic axis of Dançando com a Diferença is the one that the public most easily recognizes, as it refers to the works developed for the stage in public presentations, both as a resident collective at MUDAS (Museum of Contemporary Art in Madeira, Calheta), as well as in Viseu.
The repertoire of the company Dançando com a Diferença includes 35 productions by renowned national and international artists such as Henrique Rodovalho, Clara Andermatt, Rui Horta, Paulo Ribeiro, Rui Lopes Graça, Tânia Carvalho, La Ribot, Vera Mantero and most recently François Chaignaud and Marlene Monteiro Freitas.
Therapeutic Support Axis
In parallel with its artistic activities, Dançando com a Diferença seeks its actions to include a component of therapeutic support that contributes to the preparation of people with disabilities for active life, training their autonomy and capacity for self-representation, so that they can speak and act for themselves, which may be reflected in an inclusion-fuller and more effective society.
Education Axis
Despite the strong educational work throughout its 20 years of existence, it was in partnership with Teatro Viriato that Dançando com a Diferença started to develop and consolidate a strong axis of action of training in a school context, consequently starting in the city of Viseu an educational center, with the complicity of Teatro Viriato and the support of the municipal program Viseu Educa. Promoting inclusion in schools through inclusive dance is the objective that guides the intention to approach the educational universe, not only in Viseu, but throughout the country.