Entrevista a Né Barros por Agne Auguleviciute

You have worked in the fields of theatre and cinema. How does it help you as a choreographer?
All the arts in general have a common domain of creativity, also the lived life has too a tremendous influence in our artistic interests and research. The theatre and cinema in particular, helped me to think about the body in terms of character or the construction of it, the figure and the documental dimension about the human. But also in terms of moving human landscape, specially the cinema gives me that.

What is your major source or muse of inspiration, Né Barros?
I guess it is the mass of people moving, the intelligent landscape, the dislocations of the human. In some how, all questions about territory, the body as a territory and its process of desterritorialization. Most of my choreographic pieces have that kind of element and motiv in its construction. Perhaps I have find in this problemetics a way to conciliate an impersonal body of the dancer in co-existence with an entire individual one.

How have you started dancing? What is dance to you?
I don’t have an unique answer for what is dance, because I am always asking for myself what that is? Maybe it is exatcly this which guides me, even if unconsciously, through my choreographic research. I have started dancing as a child in ballet, but until that turned into a professional option, it was a more complex process. Dance has finally become my life later when I found out a strong connection with the movement and a will to research and exploring paths, patterns and forms that could identify or unidentify the body.

In your work „Stranger making“ you mentioned the man of absurd Albert Camus and his work The Foreigner. How did this writer and his work influence your work?
Camus has inspired me on the conception of the absurd, how people fall into an existencial questioning in their action-reaction and the way they become representation facing the world, facing life itself. In particular with The Foreigner that is pretty much in evidence. So, the influence of this author and this book is there not in a descritive way, but in the construction of an absurd stage man.

What do you as an artist wish to achieve through your work?
I will be very glad if people could share through my work a space-time poetic quality moment. Even if in an abstract way. I don’t expected people “understand” my intentions, I don’t construct it in that way. I would prefer to think that the dancing body could comunicate also not in a logical way. This in terms of a relationship art work and audience. For myself I would like to achieve every time I create a new piece, an improved grade of lucidy about the work itself but also about life.

Where is dance in Portugal going now?
With this finantial crisis, dance is obviously affected by an uncertitude of its future support. We are living a very difficut times and it is very sad to present a total political uninterested for arts and cultural issues. However, artists still are working hard and there is a very diverse and good offer of dance poetics in portugal.

For those who are not very familiar with your work, can you describe your choreographic process? How do you start a piece and develop a theme?
I don’t have a unique formula to start creating a new work. But I should mention that I normally start with an “white” body, with the moving body itself, in silence. Then I start to be aware for news meanings and multiple senses that are produced in the rehearsals. That’s why I use very often a video camera to study the production of the improvisations or concrete choreographic proposals. The “theme” some times come out from this process, I mean after. Other times I elaborate an idea and I bring a thematic to explore in the studio and if that happens, I try to propose and improvise in order to find out news accesses, new approaches, news perspectives to that particular thematic.
The only thing that is constant in my process is to take the rehearsals as a performative events and not as moments for basic repetition.

What is your impression after the work with of Aura’s dancers?
It was a pleasure to work with Aura’s dancers and the company itself. The dancers were very open to different choreographic position and they worked in a great professional way. Very generous in their dancing. I loved that.

This is your second visit to Lithuania. What was your first impression of Lithuania’s audience and Lithuania itself?
I was very pleased with the audience in Lithuania, in fact. I found people very curious and opened to new proposals. It seemed to me that audience for dance is quite mature and prepared to see different approaches to the choreographic poetics and positions. I have enjoyed very much to perform in Lithuania.

Thank you, Né Barros, for you answers!