Companhia Clara Andermatt

Cape Verde

Clara Andermatt’s artistic creation has been deeply influenced by Cape Verde. The first contact took place in 1994, when Andermatt and choreographer Paulo Ribeiro travel to the archipelago to create “Dançar Cabo Verde” (Dancing Cape Verde), a commission of the "European Cultural Capital Lisbon 94". The landscapes, the people, and their culture are the foundation on which Andermatt has built her work. A wide range of initiatives resulted from sharing experiences and exchanging knowledges, initiatives that include training, artistic collaborations and the production of various works, such as the project “CV Sabe”, and the choreographies “Anomalias Magnéticas” (Magnetic Anomalies), “Uma História da Dúvida” (A Story of Doubt), “Dan Dau”, and “VOID”. A close and persistent connection that has lasted to this day, imparting a singular nature to Clara Andermatt’s artistic language, while enhancing, at the same time, the work of Cape Verdean artists.

Pantera

2022

"Pantera" is the new co-creation of Clara Andermatt and João Lucas. Centred on the work of the musician Orlando Barreto, better known as Pantera, it aims to pay tribute to the creativity and affection of the iconic figure of Cape Verdean music.

VOID

2009

Ten years after “Dan Dau”, the work that crowns an intense period of creativity inspired on Clara Andermatt’s relationship with Cape Verdean culture, the choreographer resumes, in 2009, that relationship, creating “VOID”, a collaboration with two interpreters from past works. A year later, Andermatt brings to the performance yet another element of that shared past - the percussionist Kabum - and names it “VOID Elétrico”, a piece to be played outdoors, with a renewed organic structure.

Dan Dau

1999

Giving continuity to the cultural and artistic exchange between Portugal and Cape Verde, initiated in 1994, and enhanced by the success and the dynamics generated by “Uma História da Dúvida”, Clara Andermatt and João Lucas co-created, with the interpreters of the company, “Dan Dau” (that means “I give you, you give me”), a staged concert and an album, launched simultaneously.

Uma História da Dúvida (A Story of Doubt)

1998

“Uma História da Dúvida”, created in Cape Verde, is an outstanding work, both in Clara Andermatt’s career and in the history of Contemporary Dance in Portugal. The result is a large-scale production, passionate and strikingly visual, where music, movement and image combine. Fifteen male interpreters bring to the piece an intense physicality, and the powerful sonorities embody aspects of Cape Verdean culture. The piece was premièred at the 1998 World Exposition’s “Dive into the Future” Festival, in Lisbon. Clara Andermatt also received, in 1999, the Prémio Almada, the highest award from the Portuguese Ministry of Culture for this piece.

Anomalias Magnéticas (Magnetic Anomalies)

1995

“Anomalias Magnéticas” was created in the aftermath of a pedagogic process developed in Cape Verde by Clara Andermatt, called “CV Sabe”. In “Anomalias Magnéticas”, the choreographer continues her artistic quest into the nature of power and knowledge and examines the opposing forces that inhabit each and every human being. The music is signed by the Cape Verdean composer and musician Vasco Martins, and the piece is interpreted by Amélia Bentes, Mónica Lapa, Félix Lozano, José Silva and the choreographer herself.

Dançar Cabo Verde (Dancing Cape Verde)

1994

In 1993, Jorge Salavisa, who was responsible for the Dance programme for “Lisbon'94 - European Cultural Capital”, invited Clara Andermatt and Paulo Ribeiro to travel to Cape Verde to work together on a new piece, based on the encounter with the dances and the music from that country. “Dançar Cabo Verde” signals the start of a new relation between Portuguese contemporary dance and traditional African expressions, and a long and remarkable collaboration of Clara Andermatt with that country.