How is this Alugo-me para Sonhar [I lease myself to dream] born and how does it become a reality?

I read and write a lot before starting each creation. Since Lá où je dors, created in 2002, and in which the space was the space of the place of dreams, I knew I would have to go back in a new creation to that theme and Place. I wanted to develop this idea together with a fellow collaborator, Helena Medeiros. Together we worked for a very long time in the images and mainly the creatures that would inhabit that Place – The Birds. The passion for birds, the charm of its chirps and the happiness of the flight were my biggest impulse in the creation of stories and the construction of this Place. After all the work of previous preparation, I began rehearsals with the musician, Jonathan Saldanha, and the two performers, Elisabete Magalhães and Luísa Brandão. It was quite intense and enveloping. The composition was done through the improvisation about the topics I suggested and the stories of the body and voice were born in an organic way until they developed a shape. The musician, always present at rehearsals, was creating simultaneously with all the work of the performers.

Which work is entailed in the conception of a work of this nature from beginning to end? Which degree of demand do you ask of yourself?

Before I begin, I do this whole work of research of materials, texts, films, images, all that I consider that is directly and indirectly to do with what is going to be created. When I start rehearsals, intuitively I take options but always in a very open way, as if I didn’t intend to achieve any aim, in the sense of the finished work. I like to see how the performers appropriate and transform the materials I give them. Slowly the images which inhabit silently my mind start to appear naturally. The little stories start to gain shape and we achieve something closely related to an ending. During rehearsals’ period, daily I update and renew materials, I like to experiment and end up always leaving many scenes and many moments out. I learned it is fundamental not to keep everything. During that time, my look is profoundly attentive, I consume every second and I am always very restlessness in the sense to try to find that which has not appeared, but that I know exists and will appear. I believe very much in what I feel in rapport to what performer is.

When do you feel that the show you conceived has achieved its goals and gained a life of its own?

Only when the show is publicly presented, can I understand some things. This is the moment of the test; it is exposed to the eye. At that moment, it also has a life of its own, it is in absolute in the body of the performers, it belongs to them.

I lease myself to dream follows the topics explored in previous works such as “Quarto Escuro”[Dark Room], “Pó”[Dust] and “Là Où Je Dors”, this is, the places and the creatures of the space of the dream. Is this a space you like to explore and always come back to ?

I like the freedom of creating, moving away from the natural order of things. By creating a Place, populated by creatures different from those we find in the everyday. I believe in disturbing the logic, the weight, Nature. I believe in provoking restlessness, perplexity and mainly to trigger imagination. I see dance as a privileged place to the disturbance of the senses. I am fascinated by singing. I think it would be wonderful for all of human communication to be sung, as if we were birds on the ground. In dreams I can and do that: I hear men singing, I see people flying, I find a thousand different and powerful creatures which then disappear and only reencounter again There, where I sleep.

The title of this play was taken from a short story of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The writing of the author suits well the dream this presentation addresses?

The writing of Garcia Marquez has nothing to do with the play. I stole the title solely because I always do it when I have to decide a title. For me a title has many purposes. I LEASE MYSELF TO DREAM, could be the name of a film, a painting, an individual performance on the street – I imagine a woman with a sign written: I lease myself to dream. The titles are names which intend to introduce in any way the first contact. In this case, I thought this one was very beautiful and for me it has two meanings. On the one hand, it sends us to a dream which is the theme of the play, on the other we, by making a show, are in a way leasing our body for some time to be able to dream, and to make others dream, this I also find very interesting.

To your mind, how is dance in Portugal? Is it a case of living or surviving?
Dance is stronger and more mature. Today, there are diverse structures, created by choreographers of my generation, who in the same way as we (balleteatro) do, give boost to other choreographers and work both as reference and promoters of new generations. There are many and diverse poetics. There are theatres and, as always, there is still a long away to go for the circulation to happen in an effective way. There is also a structure, the REDE [NET], which is composed by several structures of contemporary dance in the country that has contributed to strengthen and defend several questions related to dance in Portugal.

Regarding Balleteatro, on balance which is the evaluation of the current activity of the company?

It continues to have a regular activity; it presents two new creations a year. It is a very dynamic structure which allows professionals (performers) and collaborators, essentially from the city of Porto, but not only, to work in diversified projects. It has been in the past years, partner with Teatro Nacional S.João and Rivoli Teatro Municipal (until 2005), and searches nowadays for partnerships which allow it to be a reference. In parallel to the work of creation, it promotes Residences, trying to create more and more a space of share and strengthening of the dance community of Porto.

To end, what can the audience of the Espinho Auditorium expect from this premiere on the 17^th November?

They will be the first to discover a creation done by a passionate team with enthusiasm and eagerness to share rapidly this Place. We lease ourselves to dream, the public is invited to enter.