At Paradise, an imaginary place with Christian roots, life unfolds free from the constraints of earthly and daily life. To the shortage of food, paradise offers affluence; to the burden of work, it offers a life free of efforts and obligations. There is a paradise prior to the creation, unruly but innocent, as not knowing the original sin, and the paradise of virtue, the Promised Land in heaven for those that had a virtuous life. But, as paradise emancipated from the moral-religious sphere of the Last Judgment and, progressively, entered the sphere of arts, it became the place of the exotic and marvelous. The transformation of the hell ran along the same lines, and indeed both paradise and hell constitute fundamental objects of artistic imagination.
Paradise – private collection is a choreographic concert through the garden of imagination; punctuated by dissonant and heterogeneous materials, eventually uncanny, this is a machine for rousing emotions where unexpected encounters with needles may occur.
Paradise – private collection (2012-13)
Choreography: Marlene Monteiro Freitas
Performance: Yair Barelli, Lorenzo de Angelis, Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Lander Patrick, Andreas Merk
Music: Marlene Monteiro Freitas (with the support of Nosfell and Tiago Cerqueira)
Light and Sound: Yannick Fouassier
Research and Image: João Francisco Figueira, Marlene Monteiro Freitas
Costumes: Marlene Monteiro Freitas
Production: P.OR.K (Lisbon, PT)
Distribution: Key Performance (Stockholm, SE)
Co-production: Les Spectacles Vivants – Centre Pompidou (Paris, FR), L’échangeur – CDC Picardie (FR), Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours, direction Thomas Lebrun (accueil studio, FR), Centre Chorégraphique National Rilieux-La-Pape, direction Yuval Pick (accueil studio, FR), Ballet National de Marseille (FR) – Centre Chorégraphique National, direction Frédéric Flamand (accueil studio, FR), CDC Uzès Danse (FR), Bomba Suicida – Associação de Promoção Cultural (PT), Festival Circular (PT), Maria Matos Teatro Municipal (PT)
With the support of: Départs (avec le soutien du programme Culture de l’Union européenne), Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (PT), Alkantara (PT), Atelier Re.al (PT), Centre National Danse Contemporaine Angers, direction Emmanuelle Huynh (FR)
Acknowledgements: Cédric Cherdel (FR), L’A./Rachid Ouramdane (FR), Neusa Freitas (CV), Heloisa Monteiro (PT)