“Passageira em Casa / Passenger at Home”, by Maile Colbert
Teatro Viriato (Viseu, PT) | Dance Studio
Friday, November 1st, 2013, 9.30pm
Free admission.

“Passageira em Casa / Passenger at Home”, a intermedia project by Maile Colbert, produced by Binaural/Nodar and funded by the Government of Portugal | General Directorate for the Arts is premiering at Teatro Viriato, in Viseu, on November 1st, following an artist residency starting on October 28th.

The project is an intermedia and interdisciplinary maritime performance inspired by the journey to define the concept of “home” and migration. The narrative is a partially fictionalized account of the Maritime history of Portugal. Context specific in varying historical, cultural, lingual, architectural, and personal aspects, the project has a conceptual anchor, but will always be born new as it travels to different locations and through different situations as an epic Exquisite Corpse.

The text, or “lyrics”, of the project were developed by the director, with poet Ian Colbert, based on Os Lusíadas; as well as Hawaiian chant, the directors ancestors diaries and memoirs, and the director’s own writing. The project is inspired by various texts related to maritime journeys and Portuguese history and culture.

”‘More than a few Portuguese of my generation relate the story of as a child looking to the map of Portugal hanging in their classrooms as a face…Spain being the hair and neck…the face of Portugal in profile looking away from the known land, out to sea, past sea, to new.’ [“Portuguese Modernism Unbounded: a Poetics for the Border Identity, Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies, 1, Fall, 89-108″ – Maria José Canelo].
Somewhere in my bloodline was this experience. It leads them cross-land and two oceans to Hawaii. My mother looked back the way they came, I looked beyond where she led me. Now a bloodline becomes a circle. But is that a return? Return again implies a home base. But this speaks of many lifetimes. Can one’s ancestry become a personal history? Could this feel like a return home? Could this feel like a home?” [Maile Colbert]

Credits:

Artistic Direction: Maile Colbert (US/PT)
Video/Intermedia Creation: Maile Colbert (US/PT)
Text: Ian Colbert (US) and Maile Colbert (US/PT)
Choreography and Performance: Rafaela Salvador (PT)
Movement Research: Wanda Gala (US)
Dramaturgy Consultant: Rui Catalão (PT)
Sound Creation: Rui Costa (PT) and Maile Colbert (US/PT)
Costume Design: Cláudia Ribeiro (PT) | Casa de Figurinos
Production: Binaural/Nodar
Co-Production: Cross the Pond

For more information on the project, please click here.

For more information on Maile Colbert, please click here.