This February, we had the pleasure of having Bela Associação at VIC for a unique artist residency. Choreographer Mariana Tengner Barros and her crew came to Aveiro with a mission: to adapt their work “Piece of the Heart: Excalibur” to both the region and our venue. Superseding all expectations, they’ve put together a stunning audiovisual piece that will soon be available on our YouTube channel. Stay tuned!
Piece of the Heart: Excalibur
The project started taking shape in 2008 in the mind of Mariana Tengner Barros, and resurrected again in 2012, and now 2019/2020. It comes up from an intuitive urge, from the heart, and it continuously explores and revisits the connections between singularity and plurality, as well as the multiple meanings of the word “heart”.
The piece was performed 4 times so far (2008 – “Piece of the Heart: Attempt 1, 2, 3”, 2012 – “Piece of the Heart: For him, a fragrance”), but it was only in 2020 that it reclaimed its focus on how humankind is currently so detached from nature. That’s when Excalibur comes up – a symbol of courage, mysticism, and spirituality, that reminds us of the duty of fighting for justice and for life.
The Invisible Forest
Following Excalibur, the Invisible Forest is the name of the new phase of this project, which opens a space of consciousness that touches the future and the past… This work, done in collaboration with graphic artist Mark Angelo and the Bela artist crew, comes from a desire to value nature, with special focus on trees.
The creation process begins with the mapping of the oldest trees that still exist in cities, that are then honoured through symbolic actions resulting from dialogue with the local community, free workshops, short performances and video recordings, creating an autonomous, temporary and mobile performance space.
A project meant to involve the community and honour the local arboreal heritage.
Find out more about Bela Associação and check out their other work! >>>
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