C A R C A Ç A

Ten performers on stage are used as objects to represent research into community, the construction of collective identity, memory and cultural crystallization. Through dance, starting with footwork, a practice used to warm up for clubbing or cypher battles, an approach is created to folk dances related to our collective memory. In C A R C A Ç A, an exercise is proposed between the past and the present, where we think about how to forget and become memory, question the role of individual identities in building a community and ask what the driving force of an identity is. Throughout the show, the steps will bring not only sound to the stage, but also exchanges between kinetic, thermal and luminous energies, accompanied by João Pais Filipe’s drums and Luis Pestana’s electronic music.  

Marco da Silva Ferreira has been a professional performer since 2008, having worked with some of the biggest names in Portuguese and international contemporary dance. As a choreographer, he has signed creations such as Bisonte (2019), Corpos de Baile (2020) or Siri (2021), and was a finalist for the first Rose 2025 International Dance Prize, from the Saddler’s Wells Theater. 

Artistic direction and choreography Marco da Silva Ferreira 
Artistic assistance Catarina Miranda 
Performers André Speedy, Fábio Krayze, Leo Ramos, Marc Oliveras Casas, Marco da Silva Ferreira, Maria Antunes, Max Makowski, Mélanie Ferreira, Nelson Teunis and Nala Revlon 
Production Structure P. ulso 
Dissemination ART HAPPENS 
Co-production Teatro Municipal do Porto, Centro Cultural de Belém, Big Pulse Dance Alliance, New Baltic Dance, Julidans, Tanz im August/HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Dublin Dance Festival and ONE Dance Week 
Sound João Monteiro 
Light design and technical direction Cárin Geada 
Music João Pais Filipe (percussionist) and Luís Pestana (electronic music) 
Costumes Aleksandar Protic 
Scenography Emanuel Santos 
Anthropological studies Teresa Fradique 
Folk dances Joana Lopes 
Production direction Mafalda Bastos 
Executive production Mafalda Bastos and Joana Costa Santos