Beyond South showcases the international theatre, dance and performance co-productions created as part of the Stronger Peripheries: A Southern Coalition project. The showcase presents the creations of Valentina Medda, Nóra Juhász, Neja Tomšič, Tiago Cadete, Mélodie Lasselin and Simon Capelle, Petra Hrašćanec and Ksenija Zec, and Hamdi Dridi, in a seven-day event (24th to 30th October) hosted in Portugal. Beyond South questions and discusses the notions of “south” and “peripheries” from a socio-political and socio-cultural perspective, by presenting the artistic approaches the project coproduced since 2020. It expands the dialogue to new audiences, artists, professionals and organisations, and raises questions by presenting diverse insights. An opportunity to rethink our identities through culture and the empowering confluence of cultural difference.
The creations address themes such as the disappearance of urban spaces, new migrations and emerging conflicts, the future and the role of local communities in imagining it. The artists, who developed the shows on purpose as part of the European project, will be performing in theatres but also in non-conventional venues, such as the cliffs of Cambelas beach in Torres Vedras. The programme also includes workshops led by some of the artists (based on their own experience and processes), the launch of the project’s final publication and a debate on cultural communication.
The programme starts with a debate on the challenges and opportunities of communicating performing arts in a internacional context (24th October). One journalist, one artist and one organisation enter the bar to discuss the difficult choreography between journalism, communication, artistic creation and audiences. Researchers Pedro Costa and Ricardo Lopes, and Comms manager Anja Pletikosa will be joining them onsite to present the project’s final publication: “Stronger Peripheries: building a Southern Coalition in performing arts”. Lisbon’s beautiful Estrela garden will host the dialogues and set the tone.
‘2060’, by Hungarian Nóra Juhász, is the first artistic presentation, on October 24th at Teatro-Cine in the city of Pombal. The artist challenged teenagers and young adults to imagine their future in a video game environment, and the result is an unusual and profoundly up to date proposal.
The following day, the city of Alcobaça hosts ‘Circle’ by Neja Tomšič at the João d’Oliva Monteiro Cine-Theatre. The work crosses the boundaries between installation, sculpture and theatre. On stage, the audience will be able to move around the scenography while the artist tells the story of disappearing urban spaces and how these voids build the memory of those who inhabit cities.
The 26 October programme includes two looks at migration. In the incredible setting of the cliffs of Cambelas beach in Torres Vedras, ‘The last lamentation’ (Valentina Medda) promises to be a funeral rite for the Mediterranean, a choral reconstruction inspired by the tradition of mourners. And at the Cine-Teatro in Sobral de Monte Agraço, the ghostly ‘CONCERTO’ by Portuguese artist Tiago Cadete gives voice to Latin American migrants living in Portugal and Catalonia,Spain through a sound installation that haunts the stalls (repeats on 28 October at the Sá da Bandeira Theatre in Santarém).
‘ENEMY (a peace conference)’ is a duet dance and performance that will be at the Casa do Jardim da Estrela in Lisbon on the 27th. Mélodie Lasselin and Simon Capelle asked two friends, a Ukrainian and a Russian, to meet. Based on the transcript of their conversations, dancers Mélodie Lasselin and Léa Pérat conceive a dialogue with local communities through dance, and propose a hybrid style that mixes tradition and future, heritage and fiction.
‘DANS(E) HOUSE TRIO’ brings together electronic music, dance, food and local communities in a performance that will be presented in Montemor-o-Novo on 29 October. The project is by Hamdi Dridi and his company Chantiers Publics. Beyond South closes on 30 October in Moita, with Croatians Petra Hrašćanec and Ksenija Zec between performance and active installation, between dance and dinner, in the diptych ‘Safe Chemistry’. While ‘21 Degrees Celsius’ offers a dance solo in an impressive scenography that unravels over the course of the show, ‘Dinner for 21’ welcomes 19 spectators for a performative experience around the table.
