For nine decades, in Brazil, existed a mental asylum, the Hospital Colónia de Barbacena, where marginalized people—gays, women, political enemies of the elite, homeless alcoholics, unwanted children, wanderers, epileptics—were confined alongside those diagnosed with mental health issues. All received the same brutal treatment instituted by a system that did not want them. More than 60,000 people died in what came to be known as the Brazilian Holocaust. These social 'cleansings' continue to exist today, killing subjectivities, killing black people, the poor, refugees, women, trans people, dreamers, militants.

In this piece, Cavalcanti constructs an escape. What if four fugitives from this hospital are on the road, sharing a common pact? What if they believe they are a rock band on tour? What if they are hiding in a garage or an abandoned building, rehearsing for a concert, but without instruments? Who are these people, what do they feel, and how do they relate to one another? What are the boundaries between madness and imagination? How do you keep thoughts and bodies free like a child who (still) isn’t conditioned to be a social and productive being?

Cavalcanti wanted to create a piece that would move people emotionally. He likes to think of his mother when he makes his pieces, imagining a better world for her, for the people he loves, and even for those he doesn’t know. How can this be materialized in a dance? Horses are killed when they are no longer useful to humans, as if something or someone had to have a utility. This piece is about a herd of horses running free in the open field, exhausted but happy; they do not know they will die in war. This piece is an exercise in freedom.

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More information: Ticket office Convento São Francisco

Credits

Creation, Interpretation, and Direction Francisco Thiago Cavalcanti

‍Co-creation and Interpretation Bárbara Cordeiro, Francisca Pinto, and Piero Ramella‍

Collaboration in Creation Clara Kutner, Lander Patrick, and Lisa Nelson‍

Artistic Support João Fiadeiro, Carolina Campos, and Daniel Pizamiglio‍

Lighting and Technical Direction Santiago Rodriguez Tricot‍

‍Support Fórum Dança, L’Obrador Espai de Creació, La Caldera, Transborda

‍Co-production Teatro do Bairro Alto

‍Photos Safire Hikari, Lucas Damiani, Clara Kutner, João Fiadeiro‍

Acknowledgments lia rodrigues, marlene monteiro de freitas, katarina lanier, jovan monteiro, equipe do pacap 5 e do fórum dança

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