Regular Classes

with Josefa Pereira, Bárbara Faustino e Natália Mendonça

School year 2023/2024

Tuesday and Thursday | 19h30-21h30

Forum Dança’s Contemporary Dance classes will be conducted through a multiple and collective experience, proposed by Josefa Pereira in partnership with artists Bárbara Faustino and Natália Mendonça. The proposal is to provide a meeting space in which the alternation between the three artists enables a context of sharing and transit so that different bodily practices intersect both in what they have in common and in the specificities that each artist and their work proposals will allow them to experience.
From this exchange between teachers/artists and students/artists, the aim is to provide a context for experimentation that activates in each participant the availability and readiness necessary for a tour of practices that seek, as a common point, to provide the experience of creative tools through dance and the body in movement.
In our classes, the different techniques and training are not an end in themselves, but a resource for a more powerful and self-aware body. From there, we try to activate a sensitive, accessible and porous body, with more vitality and better energy circulation, more resilient and malleable to its surroundings. Finally, we seek to mobilize a more inventive body that is constantly open to new updates in its ways of being.
The Tuesday and Thursday classes are aimed at anyone interested in dance and movement practices. That’s why not only dance artists and beginners are welcome, but also people who have no previous experience of body practices. Curiosity and availability are the only requirements for joining us.

Bios

Josefa Pereira (BR/PT) is a choreographer and performer. She lives in Lisbon, between partnerships in the local scene and collaborations in São Paulo, the city where she lived and grew up. She completed her master’s degree at DAS Choreography – AHK (NL) with a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation and graduated in dance and performance at Comunicação das Artes do Corpo (PUC-SP) with a scholarship from the PROUNI program. She also took part in PACAP I, promoted by Forum Dança (PT).
Her most recent artistic practice is defined by an orbiting field around interests such as monstrosity and fabulation. Recent collaborations include Ruído Rosa by Alina Ruiz Foline; As Canções que Catamos Contra os Muros que Limpamos by Catarina Vieira and Aixa Fagini; Spillovers by Rita Natálio; and dramaturgy for O Elefante no Meio da Sala by Vânia Doutel Vaz; and KDEIRAZ by Natália Mendonça.

Since 2019 she has been a dance teacher at Forum Dança, and also teaches workshops and creative laboratories, making this a space for experimentation and exchange for her practice and artistic research with other artists and interested people. In addition to collaborations and partnerships, she is dedicated to the creation and circulation of her works Hidebehind (2018), Glimpse (2020) and Calor (2022), which are part of the PINK Bestiary trilogy. And in 2023 he will premiere his new group creation Campo Força Chama. Her work has already been shown at the Cumplicidades Festival (PT); Teatro do Bairro Alto (PT); Acker Stadt Palast (DE); Moderna Museet (SE); Bienal SESC de Dança (BR); Festival Internacional de Danza Contemporánea-FIDCU (UR); Museum of Modern Art – MAM-SP (BR); Meteor Theater Festival (NO), among others.

Natália Mendonça (BR/PT) is a performer, choreographer and body coach with a degree in Dance from UNICAMP. Based in Lisbon since 2020, she took part in PACAP 4, teaches dance at Forum Dança and develops her own work and collaborations with other choreographers. Since 2021 she has been developing KDEIRAZ, a children’s piece that plays with the creation of choreographic games. With Josefa Pereira she collaborated on the Bestiário PINK trilogy and is a performer in Campo-Força-Chama, with Dinis Machado she is a performer in Cyborg Sunday and with Rita Natálio she was a guest in the Pass The Mic project. In Brazil she is a performer with Clarice Lima and Cristian Duarte and has been part of the cast of Marta Soares, Cia Perversos Polimorfos and Jorge Garcia. In 2016 she premiered Marcela Banguela under the PROAC 1as Obras de Dança program. She was the body coach for Quando Quebra Queima by the Ocupação collective (MEXE-PT/Festival Panorama CND-FR/Battersea-UK) and has performed at Cena Brasil Internacional-RJ/Bienal Sesc de Dança-SP/Festival IC de Teatro-BA/JUNTA Teresina-PI/Festival Aldeia Vale Dançar-PE.

Bárbara Faustino (BR/PT) is a dancer and dance teacher who graduated from the Escola Municipal de Bailado do Teatro Municipal de São Paulo. She also has a degree in Dance from the Dance and Movement course at Anhembi Morumbi University and took the Pre-Primary and Primary teachers’ course at the Royal Academy of Dance of London.
Based in Portugal since 2015, she has worked as a dancer, manager and dance teacher at Musibéria – International Center for Iberian World Music and Dance – in Serpa, Alentejo. She currently lives in Lisbon, where she continues to investigate her artistic research, at the crossroads between teaching, performance and creation in dance.

Pre-registration process

1. Pre-register online using the form provided;
2. Wait for our email with payment instructions;
3. Pay for your registration as indicated in the email sent to you;
4. Send us proof of payment to our email address;
5. Your registration will only be validated once we have received your receipt.

with Maria Ramos

School year 2023/2024

Wednesday | 19h30-21h30

We work on the relationship of the body with space.

We read our favorite authors to think better about composition, landscape, geography, and architecture.

We invent rules, activate invisible structures, and discover ‘events’. Sometimes we map movement, sometimes movement goes off the map.

We make performances in which we are all, simultaneously, audience, authors, and performers.

Regular dance creation and experimentation classes, organized in quarterly cycles, with informal sharing every three months throughout the school year.
Based on the improvisation-composition practices and methodologies that I have been developing in the context of my choreographic and pedagogical work, we will first create ‘bodies’ (individual and collective bodies) and then create performative events addressing the body’s relationship with space, sound, objects, images and texts (in a gradual, plural and four-dimensional movement).
Our object of study will be to analyze the ‘rules’ of the ‘game’ (improvisation structure, composition, map, score) so that we can then transgress the ‘rules’ and discover performative proposals in which we are all, simultaneously, ‘builders’ and interpreters.
Throughout the school year, we also have occasional guests (choreographers/dancers) who will develop a work proposal with the group for a certain period of time.

References & research territories
Goat Island Performance Group; Deborah Hay; Angus Balbernie; Antony Gormley; Alberto Carneiro; Barry Lopez; Meg Stuart; Samuel Beckett; Nick Cave & Warren Ellis; Robert Ellis Dunn (improvisation and choreography classes); Mary Fulkerson; Mary Overlie (The Six Viewpoints)

Guests from previous years
Joana Pupo (actress/creator), Jaime Mears (actress/creator, AU-PT), Ana Mira (dancer/teacher), Sara Anjo (dancer/creator), Teresa Silva (dancer/creator), Angus Balbernie (choreographer/director, UK), Christy Funsch (dancer/creator, USA), Inês Zinho Pinheiro (dancer/creator), Albert Dean (musician), Miguel Sobral Curado (musician).

Organization of the Choreographic Laboratory for 2023/24
Commitment and personal dedication are essential for the progression of individual and collective work. Participants can commit to one, two or three work cycles, with each cycle corresponding to approximately thirteen classes (10 classes in the case of Cycle 1).

• Cycle 1 – October to December, informal sharing with invited audience – December 13, 2023
• Cycle 2 – January-March, informal sharing with invited audience – March 27, 2024
• Cycle 3 – April-June, informal sharing with invited audience – June 26, 2024

*Dates subject to change.

Target audience
Classes open to anyone interested in developing and deepening their knowledge in the area of contemporary dance (physicality, movement exploration, performance work, improvisation-composition).
We have had heterogeneous groups whose professional areas range from the sciences, social sciences, sports, dancers/creators and artists from other areas such as cinema, visual arts, plastic arts, music and theater, which has generated a very stimulating and enriching multiplicity of perspectives.

Clothes / Material
Practical and comfortable clothes so that we can move freely and that also protect the body for when we do floor work (long-sleeved pants and t-shirt). Some work proposals will extend beyond the studio, in which case it’s good to bring a coat and comfortable shoes. Bottle of water, notebook and pen.

Bio

Maria Ramos
Between 1996 and 2009, she lived in the Netherlands, where she studied and developed her professional career as a dancer, working with various independent choreographers in the Netherlands, Germany, England and the USA. Highlights include her work with choreographer/director Angus Balbernie (UK), choreographers Olga Pona (UK), Katja F. M. Wolf (DE) and Janis Claxton (UK-AU). She trained in Dance at the Hogeschool voor de kunsten/ArtEZ (1996-2000) and obtained a Master’s degree in Choreography, ArtEZ Master of Choreography (Moc, 2006-2008), at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem.

On her return to Portugal, she completed the Research and Creation course at Forum Dança, in Lisbon, in the context of which she began to create her first solo work, 7pm/Rumour, a piece that begins the cycle of works entitled Um Certo Grau de Imobilidade (A Certain Degree of Immobility), supported by DGArtes and the Gulbenkian Foundation. This cycle also includes the pieces Nerves and Something Still Uncaptured, presented in the Netherlands, Portugal and Argentina. He later choreographed the piece Árida, a project supported by DGArtes.

She currently collaborates with actress and creator Joana Pupo (in the project O Corpo Inominável) and with choreographer Madalena Victorino (in various choreographic projects), as a dancer/creator or as a creative assistant. At the same time, she has been teaching at the Escola Superior de Dança (since 2017), at the Escola Superior de Artes e Design das Caldas da Rainha (since 2016) and at Forum Dança (since 2012).

“When people ask me what dance technique I teach and who I studied improvisation, composition and choreography with, I always end up having to talk about my dance background and practices. In my classes, I take my own approach which includes contemporary dance techniques based on the Release technique (learned from Amélia Bentes and Sofia Neuparth and, later, during the course at EDDC/ArtEZ with teachers Eva Karczag, Mary O’Donnell Fulkerson, Gill Clarke and João da Silva); contact-improvisation (Karen Nelson, Steve Paxton); floor work; partner work (David Zambrano, Iñaki Azpillaga/Ultima Vez); fall and recovery; vertical movement and movement through space; improvisation and composition. Developed throughout my dance career with teachers and choreographers from the so-called New Portuguese Dance, such as Sofia Neuparth, Amélia Bentes, Peter Michael Dietz, Clara Andermatt and Francisco Camacho, especially in the context of the five-month Research and Choreographic Creation Course at Forum Dança, as well as in the Netherlands and England, with creators and teachers such as Steve Paxton, Deborah Hay, Yvonne Rainer (from whom I learned the iconic solo “Trio A”) and Karen Nelson/Lisa Nelson, and with dancers and teachers from the companies Trisha Brown and Siobhan Davies, Eva Karczag (who passed on to me notions of ‘full-body movement and the practice of being in the moment’ and with whom I also practiced the martial art T’ai Chi Ch’uan, which Karczag in turn learned from the teacher Gerda Geddes), Lisa Kraus and Gill Clarke.

Also important for me in terms of the performer’s work, composition and improvisation was the work I did as a dancer with choreographer/director Angus Balbernie between 2000-2009, and the workshops with the Goat Island Performance Group, Matthew Goulish and Lin Hixson, Deborah Hay, Peter Pleyer and Jonathan Burrows.”

More info: Choreographic work | Laboratory Notebook | Aulas e Práticas de Dança, Hoje

Pre-registration process

1. Pre-register online using the form provided;
2. Wait for our email with payment instructions;
3. Pay for your registration as indicated in the email sent to you;
4. Send us proof of payment to our email address;
5. Your registration will only be validated once we have received your receipt.

with Francisca Pinto

School year 2023/2024

Tuesday and Thursday | 9h00-10h00

YOGA, as a psycho-physical technique, is universally applicable.
In these classes, which are active and dynamic, but also rigorous and methodical, we will try to rebalance muscle chains and become more aware of the body’s alignment.
The classes are demanding but always safe and comfortable, respecting each student’s rhythm and condition, using specific support material for a healthy progression.
We will work deeply on the coordination of movement with Ujjayi breathing (basic Pránáyáma technique), bringing breathing into a conscious process, gradually inducing a state of greater concentration.
Between the techniques of Ásana (yoga postures), Pránáyáma (breathing techniques) and Yoganidra (relaxation techniques), I will share varied and progressive classes, in a peaceful and caring environment, but also one of joy and well-being, recognizing the importance and pleasure that being in connection with our body gives us.

As a dancer for over ten years, HATHA YOGA has been a fundamental practical philosophy of life in the continuous discovery and deepening of the infinite possibilities of the body.
It is always highly structuring and deeply rooted, while simultaneously opening up spaces for greater physical, psychic and emotional availability.
It’s a complete practice in caring for the body and activating its energy, as the main vehicle of our daily existence, which I share here with great pleasure and dedication.

Bio

FRANCISCA PINTO (1998), was born in Lisbon (PT). Dancer, performer, creator and teacher. Graduated from National Conservatory School of Dance of Lisbon in 2006 and from Lisbon Superior Dance School in 2009. Studied in the Study, Research and Choreographic Creation Program of Fórum Dança in 2013/14. As a dancer as been working with Martine Pisani, Clara Andermatt, Lia Rodrigues, Jonas&Lander, Bruno Alexandre, Catarina Miranda, Francisco Thiago Cavalcanti, Sofia Dias&Vitor Roriz, among others. As a guest teacher has worked for different instituitions such as Escola Livre de Dança da Maré (BR), Estúdios Vítor Córdon, Escola Superior de Dança (PT). Has been practicing Yoga since 2010 and is graduated as a Certified Yoga Instructor from Portuguese Yoga Centre – CPYOGA Lisboa.

Pre-registration process

1. Pre-register online using the form provided;
2. Wait for our email with payment instructions;
3. Pay for your registration as indicated in the email sent to you;
4. Send us proof of payment to our email address;
5. Your registration will only be validated once we have received your receipt.

with Gisela Dória

Interdisciplinary Movement Practices

School year 2023/2024

Monday | 19h30-21h00

From Body to Body consists of regular classes based on the practice that Gisela Dória has been developing over many years of pedagogical and artistic experience. The work proposed here dialogues with a variety of techniques, including Dance, Pilates, Gyrokinesis® and various Somatic Education practices, including the Klein Technique™. More than a synthesis of these techniques, the classes promote the integration of various approaches in favor of a sensitivity that takes the uniqueness of each body as its starting point.

The aim is to develop awareness of the physical structure in order to make movement more functional and pleasurable, helping to maintain the body’s vitality. These classes thus open the way to self-observation, providing each person with the necessary resources for the continued (re)education of their movement.

Classes are open to adults of all ages, with no technical or physical prerequisites.

Bio

Gisela Dória was born in Rio de Janeiro and is living in Lisbon since 2018. Daughter of actor father and mother, she grew up behind the scenes of theaters, studied classical ballet, jazz, modern dance until she reached contemporary dance. Graduated in London, at the College of the Royal Academy of Dance; she is certified in Pilates by CGPA-São Paulo with a specialization in the Kane School Pilates Program in New York; she is a Certified Gyrokinesis® Instructor and, since 2020, is a member of the Klein Technique™ Certification Program.

She taught classical ballet at Sitter’s School of Dance (1991-1993) in Canada. She was founder and artistic director of the Gisela Dória Ballet School (1994-2017), Campo Grande, Brazil. She holds a master’s degree from the University of São Paulo-USP (2008) and a doctorate from the University of Campinas-UNICAMP (2015), both in Performing Arts.

She collaborated with Coletivo Performa Teatro in São Paulo from 2008 to 2017, where she performed in the show Cry Baby Cry (Festival Internacional de Teatro Rua de Porto Alegre-2014), directed by Matteo Bonfitto and Graziella Mantoanelli; she acted in and choreographed the dance video Deslizes (2008); she prepared the body for the shows Descartes (Sesc SP-2008), O Mentiroso (2009) and co-directed Palavras Corrompidas (Sesc SP-2016). She participated as a performer and director of several dance shows, among them: O Sopro de Vida (2004), Cultura Bovina – Ginga Cia de Dança with the support of Caixa Econômica Federal (2007/2009), Fluzz – Cia Dançurbana with the support of Boticário na Dança Prize (2017), A Viagem- Autores em Cena– Itaú Cultural, (2016).

Author of the book Poética de Sem Lugar: Por uma Teatralidade na Dança, published in 2013 by Editora Perspectiva, São Paulo and co-author of the book Cia Carne Agonizante: 21 Years of Dance with no time to be afraid, 2018. Held in 2017/18 a postdoctoral project at ECA/USP, where she developed an inspired choreographic research for Poesia Haiku. From 2018 to 2020 she was a visiting researcher at the Center for Theater Studies at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon.

She started collaborating with Forum Dança in November 2021.

Personal website www.giseladoria.com

Pre-registration process

1. Pre-register online using the form provided;
2. Wait for our email with payment instructions;
3. Pay for your registration as indicated in the email sent to you;
4. Send us proof of payment to our email address;
5. Your registration will only be validated once we have received your receipt.