HAU 1: April 12 – 13; 7.30 pm (festival opening)
»Máquina de Desgastar Gente«
(Human Demoralization Machine)
ATELIÊ DE COREÓGRAFOS BRASILEIROS, SÃO PAULO / SALVADOR
European Premier/ talk with the audience: April 13, after the performance
The image of the black man in Brazilian society – and the study thereof – is the subject of »Máquina de Desgastar Gente«, a piece conceived by Luiz de Abreu for the »5. Ateliê de Coreógrafos Brasileiros«.
The piece moves beyond dance; its assemblage integrates music and theater to recount everyday impressions, personal memories and the histories of the ensemble members’ ancestors. With this piece, Luiz de Abreu, author and director of the polemical piece »Samba do Crioulo Doido«, the opening of move berlim 2005, broadens the discussion of the historical role of the black man in Brazilian daily society.
In a haunting, sometimes humorous, but always decidedly political way, Abreu reveals the black man’s contribution to the »cultura mestiça«, with the use of sculptural, acoustic and theatrical elements. Abreu consciously utilizes national symbols – the official as well as the non-official. They are however easily identified as insignia of Brazilian culture.
Folk dances, the clothing of the coastal dwellers, the rows of
houses in the historical city district, the sounds of the drums
are all elements of »Máquina de Desgastar Gente«.
concept, directing, choreography: Luiz de Abreu
dance: Augusto Santana, Diogo Lopes Filho, Fafá Carvalho, Henrique Lucca,
Jaqueline Elesbao, Norma Santana, Paullo Fonseca, Saci, Wilson Tadeu
text editing: Wlamyra Albuquerque
texts: personal reports of the ensemble
soundtrack: Luiz de Abreu
music: Diogo Lopes Filho, Denise Rocha, Augusto Santana, Luiz de Abreu
percussion: Augusto Santana and ensemble
stage design: J. Cunha
costumes: Ayrson Heráclito
light design: Marcelo Moacyr
concept, coordination, artistic director of Ateliê de Coreógrafos
Brasileiros: Eliana Pedroso
head of production: Konstanze Mello
production: EP Produções Culturais
The project Ateliê de Coreógrafos Brasileiros (The
Brazilian Choreographers’ Atelier) was founded by Eliana
Pedroso, its current director, five years ago. This is where the
piece “Human Demoralization Machine” was developed.
The Ateliê is a unique initiative dedicated to the further
education of creative individuals and performers in Salvador in
the state of Bahia. Students of journalism, musicians, professional
artists from the visual arts and fashion design et al are invited
to interact in the creative process of the atelier. This project
has an average of ca. 10.000 visitors per year coming to see its
performances.
Now Luiz de Abreu once more returns to Berlin after the great success of his
polemical piece “Samba of the Crazy Nigger”, as the opening act of
the second edition of move berlim 2005. He has since worked both as a dancer
in large Brazilian companies – such as 1º Ato e Cisne Negro – as
well as for television and theater.
“Human Demoralization Machine” is composed of three parts: The first
part recounts episodes from the living history of the participating performers
as well as childhood memories. The interaction of text, photography and movement
on stage invokes the power of matriarchy in cultures of African origin. In the
second part of the piece, a caleidoscope of images depicting the current situation
of blacks in Brazilian society is drawn up through stories relating recent experiences
of the performers addressing questions of class and gender. In the third and
last section social opposites and cultural legacy are “embodied” and
accompanied by the music and traditional African drumming.
The choreographer Luiz de Abreu emphasizes the documentary character of the “Human
Demoralization Machine”. The situations depicted and stories woven into
the piece are real life experiences by the members of the ensemble. “The
idea”, he says, “was not to convey the image of the black man as
a spectacle or as folklore”, but to present an absolutely realistic image.
Live texts and music were developed themselves by the dancers and actors. In
addition, they borrowed choreographic and theatrical bits and pieces of other
productions of which they had previously been part.
“The piece was developed in a phase in which Brazil’s history was
being politically and ideologically reassessed and the Brazilian “machine” revealed
itself. A machine in which the black man was only considered as a simple cog
in the wheelwork”, Luiz de Abreu comments. The reassessment is meant to
demonstrate a change in social roles, especially in those of the black population.