Sara Anjo
Choreographer and performer
"I work with meditative and ecstatic practices that allows a state of embodied awareness in relation to the natural environments and ecosystems. In these meditative and ecstatic practices I privilege 3 main actions: breathing, walking and being still, as “choreo - political” actions. That is, actions that state a political position towards the established system.
Soundscape is also at the core of my core, as a medium that allows yourself to deeply dive in the surrounding environment and suppresses the idea that the human being is separated from nature.
My main subjects of artistic research are: the idea of “tracing” as a gesture that allow us to reflect about the present as a very ancient path. And the idea of “insular realities” as places to think about utopia and dystopia.
Check Sara portfolio
WORKS
Bio:
Sara Anjo (PT 1982) is a choreographer and performer interested in meditative and ecstatic practices, breathing and walking are the main ones. She is also interested in developing her work in relation to outdoors, landscapes and natural environments. She permanently questions herself about: what moves us? How do we move? And to where are we moving?
She has graduated in the Contemporary Dance Academy (2001). She studied Artistic Studies (BA) at the Faculty of Arts of Lisbon (2008) and Contemporary Art (post-graduation) at Lisbon’s Catholic University (2011). She holds a master in choreography from Das Graduate School in Amsterdam (2016).
Her artistic and thinking references are: Anna Halprin, Ailton Krenak; Usula K. Le Guin, Hildegard Westerkamp, Werner Herzog, James Turrel.
As a choreographer she is interested in rhythm, pulse, tempo and displacement. Her proposals activate a sonic theatre, where choreography and the performative space are explored through soundscape. Alongside her pieces, she explores a work of notation and archive, as a way of noticing and notating the body movement in space.
She devised "Nobody would know to tell that story" a performance around the female world where she collaborated with 6 female artists (BoxNova CCB 2011); "Liquid Landscapes" a travelling dance in an old washing house in Lisbon (Teatro do Silêncio 2012); "Shaped as a Tree", a solo about (dis)quietness (Negócio ZDB 2016); "Sacrum", a magnetic walking (Negócio ZDB 2018). At the moment she's developing "Islands - a constellation" a project about the insular geography and imaginary and "Traces - scores for breathing, walking and being still".
She collaborated with Teresa Silva in "Oracle", with Michelle Moura in "Here we are in this little step”, with Thea Paterson and Jeremy Gordaner in the Project “Intensive Maps” and with Teatro do Silêncio in the project "Caminhar".
She develops performances for young audience, where she explores the relation between figurative and abstract imagination together with her research to create a sonic theatre. She developed "Everything in the World began with a yes" (CCB-Fábrica das Artes 2016) with Filipe Raposo and "Starts Wash your Feet" with Madalena Palmeirim (CCB-Fábrica das Artes 2018). She published the book "Dancing Dot", with which she develops workshops and staged readings.