'‘Ermo, a título provisório’ emerges from the ongoing work on the disappearance of the body, a theme that has come to the fore in Mário Afonso’s recent projects. It reflects on human relationships in contemporary societies, shaped by technological mediation, and explores appearance, encounter and the absence of presence, from which new patterns of sociability emerge. This theme runs through the performances ‘Framework’ (2022) and ‘vaziopleno’ (2023). In 2024, it also became the title of his master’s thesis, ‘O desaparecimento do corpo’.

While in ‘Framework’ and ‘vaziopleno’ the research focuses on a solo body, unfolding across different angles and perspectives, this new performance explores the potential of a trio, brought together through the poetic interplay of revelation and concealment. Here, physicality shapes a gesture that multiplies, hesitates and dissolves, only to recompose itself in relation to the Other.

What becomes present in bodies beyond the logic of productivity? What imaginaries emerge from silence and the intervals between gestures? What figures can three bodies sketch through this act of listening?

‘Ermo, a título provisório’ is an essay on the time of presence and the potential of listening in encounter. It does not merely reflect on the disappearance of the body; it asserts corporeality as a site of resistance and creation: suspended time as a space for contemplation and deeper understanding; silence as sustained listening; and the proximity between bodies as a political act of sharing and reshaping the sensible.

The experimental nature of the choreographer’s work places his artistic proposals within the realm of practice-based research. The process of composition for the stage begins with the gathering of diverse materials and draws on improvisation as a means of generating movement, text and rhythm. Humour and irony, characteristic features of his work, also play an important role.

Artistic and Technical Credits

Concept and Direction: Mário Afonso

Performers: Lucas Damiani and Rafa Jacinto

Dramaturgical Support: Ana Pais

Artistic Mentoring: Miguel Pereira

Lighting Design: Luís Moreira

Set Design: Mário Afonso

Set Construction: Katie Lagast and Mário Afonso

Music and Sound Design: João Bento

Graphic Design: Pedro Nora

Social Media: Filipa Galhordas Batista

Audiovisual Documentation and Editing: Lara Morais and Raquel Melgue

Executive Production: Mariana Dias

Project Management: Hannya Melo

Production: Carta Branca

Co-production: Teatro do Bairro Alto

Financial Support: Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth and Sport / Directorate-General for the Arts

Institutional Partners: APCC – Associação para a Promoção Cultural da Criança, Balleteatro, Casa da Dança, cem – Centro em Movimento, EVC – Estúdios Victor Córdon, Festival Corpo de Hoje – Associação Cultural, O Rumo do Fumo, Fundação de Serralves

Acknowledgements: Anabela Mendes, Boia Associação Cultural, Cidália Sousa, Cláudia Belchior, Cláudia Oliveira, Dinis Dórdio, Lugar do Meio, Manuela Marques, Patrícia Carmo, Sérgio Marques, Sofia Campos, Sofia Neuparth, Vera Santos

Photography: Aline Belfort and Joana Linda