Membros Company

“We cannot cure the sufferings of this world, so we’ve decided to dance them...Art, and notably Hip Hop, can be a form of protest, a way to provoke thought on the question of the meaning of society. That is why our dance goes beyond the purely physical vision of the body... “ (Taís Vieira and Paulo Azevedo)
 

Post-show talk on 19th of May with the members of MembrosCompany and Tibor DERDÁK Hungarian sociologist. In Portugal with Hungarian translation.
 

In FEBRE, the dancers’ brutal and convulsive dance, does nothing to mask the damage of which they are the revolted victims. Exploring the Hip Hop philosophy in its totality, the creations of the company are reflections aimed at the body, the individual and his surroundings. The company builds its studies relying on fundamental social debates; not only those which affect Brazil, a country of large inequalities and huge violence, but also the problems that presently affect each conscience and each society.
   

Membros is a Hip Hop dance company founded in 1999 by Taís Vieira, choregrapher, and Paulo Azevedo, instructor and Phd in Political Science, in Macaé (180 km of Rio de Janeiro). It is in this town (pop: 200 000 and the country’s highest homicide rate), where the atypical project was born: to unite ten youngsters from various backgrounds and cultural horizons, with no previous contact with dance, in order to bet on another perspective of life, to participate in an experience with the objective to form a professional dance company. The present actors of Membros were involved during many demonstrations that Taís Vieira and Paulo Azevedo were organizing then in colleges. Once having become professionals, they now transmit their passion, their reflexions and their knowledge within CiemH2, Center of Integrated Studies on the Hip Hop Movement in Macaé. Since 2004, the company has benefited from creative residences around Europe, notably at Ca l’Estruch (Creation Center in Sabadell - Cataluña/Spain). In both Brazil and Europe it partcipates in debates, jurys, and offers many workshops and masterclasses.
 

Creation and direction: Paulo AZEVEDO és Taís VIEIRA
Choregraphy: Taís VIEIRA
Dancers: Amilton VILARINDO, João Carlos SILVA, Mirila GREICY, Luiz HENRIQUE, Jean GOMES, Zanzibar VICENTINO
Sound designer: Paulo AZEVEDO
Music: Bach, Chico Buarque, Faccai Central, Jorge Aragao, Funky
Lights and technical direction: José MARTINS
Scenography: Delphine LANCELLE
Production: El Climamola (Barcelona)
 

Coproduction: Les Rencontres de la Villette, Festival GREC de Barcelona / Mercat de les Flors. With the support of: MINC (ministerio de cultura do Brasil), Fondo Nacional de Cultura, IDEE, programme Culture 2000 et Union Européenne.