THE JOYCE THEATER

THE JOYCE THEATER
The Joyce Theater Foundation, in association with Focus Cia. de Dança, presents
Director and Choreographer
Alex Neoral
Production Director
Tatiana Garcias
Executive Producer
Náshara Silveira
Company
Alex Neoral, Carol Pires, Clarice Silva, Cosme Gregory, Felipe Padilha,
Marcio Jahú, Marisa Travassos and Mônica Burity
Realization
Neoral Garcias Produções Artísticas LTDA
Focus Cia de Dança is sponsored by Petrobras
Leadership support for The Joyce Theater’s 2013–2014 season has been received from
the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust.
This presentation is underwritten by Amit Wadhwaney
and supported by The R. Britton Fisher and Family Gift for International Dance.
The Joyce Theater’s Dance Presentation Program is supported by a grant award from the National Endowment
for the Arts; and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of
Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; as well as supported, in part, by public funds
from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council with special thanks to
Christine C. Quinn. Additional support has been provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund
to encourage the performances of out-of-town companies at The Joyce Theater.
Major support for The Joyce has been provided by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation,
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation. Additional major support has been provided by
Dance/USA, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, First Republic Bank, The Jerome Robbins Foundation,
and The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation.
AS CANÇÕES QUE VOCÊ DANÇOU PRA MIM
(2011)
Director and Choreographer: Alex Neoral
Production Director: Tatiana Garcias
Executive Producer: Náshara Silveira
Light Designer: Binho Schaeffer
Lighting Technician: Phelipp Raposo
Musical Creation and Editing: Alex Neoral
Costumes and Makeup: André Vital
Scenic Ambiance: Marcio Jahu
Costume Construction: Jacira Garcias
Photos: Marian Starosta and Cintia Pimentel
Stage Technician: Wellison Rodrigues
Company:
Alex Neoral, Carol Pires, Clarice Silva, Cosme Gregory, Felipe Padilha,
Marcio Jahú, Marisa Travassos and Mônica Burity
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Focus Cia. de Dança is currently one of the most active dance companies in Rio de Janeiro.
Between 2010 and 2011, Focus performed in 32 French cities, including performances at the
acclaimed Lyon Dance Biennial in September 2010. The company has also brought its art to
Portugal, Italy, Germany, and Panama. In Brazil, Focus has been to nearly 50 cities, including
state capitals and towns. Directed and choreographed by Alex Neoral, the company is supported by SESC Rio, and for two consecutive years was part of Project Art Residency SESC
Rio. In 2007 and 2008, Focus was nominated as one of the best dance performances of the year
by Jornal do Brazil newspaper. As canções que você dançou pra mim was chosen one of the
top ten dance performances of 2011 by the newspaper O Globo.
WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY
ALEX NEORAL (Artistic
Director and Dancer) began studying dance in Rio
de Janeiro in 1994. He
joined renowned Brazilian
companies, like Cia de
Dança Deborah Colker, Cia
Nós da Dança (Regina Sauer), Grupo Tápias
(Giselle Tápias), and Cia Vacilou Dançou
(Carlota Portella). In 2000, he founded the
Focus Cia de Dança, presenting his first professional show, Vértice. As a teacher of contemporary dance, he has taught in Washington, DC and Italy and teaches regular classes
at the Centro de Artes Nós da Dança in Rio de
Janeiro. As a guest choreographer, Alex has
done several works, highlighting the reas-
sembly of PATHWAYS for CityDance Ensemble of Washington, DC and original pieces for
the Bolshoi Theater in Brazil, Cia Nós da
Dança, solos for Nina Botkay and Roberto de
Oliveira, and pieces for Cia DeAnima Bale
Contemporâneo, Grupo Extase from Viçosa
(Brasil), and São Paulo Dance Company.
He created the choreography for the musical
Rock in Rio, which was on display in Rio de
Janeiro and São Paulo in 2013. For four carnivals, he was the choreographer of the Front
Commision of the samba school Imperatriz
Leopoldinense of Rio de Janeiro and is currently the choreographer of the Front Commision of the Vila Isabel samba school.
WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY
CAROL PIRES (Dancer),
a native of Rio de Janeiro,
was born in 1981. She has
worked as a dancer for Focus Cia de Dança since
2000. In 2006, she participated in João Saldanha’s
ExtraCorpo project, which was co-produced
by the Dance Biennale of Lyon. The premiere
was held at the Biennale in September and
subsequently played at SESC Copacabana in
Rio during the month of November. In 2006,
she participated in the Maracanã project produced by Kampnagel (Hamburg/Germany)
and choreographed by Deborah Colker, having performed in Hamburg and Cologne in
January/February. In July 2008, she danced in
João Saldanha’s Monochrome in the Winter
Festival SESC; the work was recognized by
O Globo newspaper as one of the best works
of dance of 2007. Carol assisted João in June
2007 on his work Manipulações sobre as
forças do vazio, created for the Brazilian choreographers project of the Municipal Theater
of Rio de Janeiro. The work was nominated
as one of the ten best works of the year in
2007 by Jornal do Brasil. In 2009, she participated in the Solos de Dança of SESC as a
dancer and choreographer in ZAP, a work
performed with Alex Neoral and Clarice Silva. During the same year, she also worked as
an assistant to Alex Neoral on Imperatriz
Leopoldinense at the Brazilian Carnival.
CLARICE SILVA (Dancer) was born in Rio de Janeiro on February 28,
1980. She went to Centro
Universitário da Cidade,
where she graduated as a
dance teacher in 2001.
In 2005, she completed her studies as a contemporary dancer in Centre Choregraphique
National de Montpellier in France, directed
by Mathilde Monnier. During her career,
Clarice has worked with some important
names in Brazilian contemporary dance,
such as João Saldanha, Dani Lima, Roberto
Pereira, and Silvia Soter. Since 1997, she
has worked with choreographer Alex Neoral, and since 2000 she has been part of the
staff of Focus Cia de Dança. She also works
as a body therapist, actor, singer, movement
coach, and movement director for theater
plays. She has performed at several important festivals and cultural institutions, including Biennale de Lyon, France; Festival
Panorama da Dança, RJ, Brazil; Joinville
Dance Festival, SC, Brazil; Centre Georges
Pompidou, Paris, France; and Jahre Noverre
Festival in Stuttgart Ballet, Germany.
WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY
COSME GREGORY (Dancer) was born in Natal, RN on
March 7, 1988. He began his
career in the Municipal Ballet
of Natal and Dance Company
of Alberto Maranhão Theatre.
He worked with choreographers at Bertrand Davy’s National Choreographic Center of Montpellier in southern France and
Vlademir Vasiliev of the Bolshoi Theatre in
Moscow. In 2006, he was invited to perform as
a soloist dancer with Kamu Suna Ballet Company in Lisbon, Portugal, and in 2011, he
danced as a guest in Cia de Danca Deborah
Colker-Brazil with Ballet Tatyana. Cosme
graduated in 2008 from the Bolshoi Theater
School in Brazil, having trained with great
professionals, such as Galina Koslova, Galina
Kravchenko, Dmitry Afanasiev, Denys Nevdomyy, Amarildo Cassiando, and Sabrina Lermen. Cosme was a dancer with the Cia Jovem
of the Bolshoi Theater School in Brazil from
2009 to 2011.
MÁRCIO JAHÚ (Dancer) was born in January 28,
1984 in Rio de Janeiro. He
has been a member of Focus Cia de Dança since
2006. He graduated from
the professional course of
Centro de Dança Rio and from the dance program at UniverCidade, both in 2004.
In the same year, Márcio joined, at the invitation of China National Song and Dance Ensemble, the cast of the show Brazil Feeling,
performing in various cities in China for ten
months. He participated in several projects,
such as Relações with LASO Companhia de
Dança in 2006; Por Onde Os Olhos Não Passam with Andréa Maciel Companhia de
Dança, also in 2006; the opera Alabe de Jerusalem in 2007; and the Brazilian musical
Isaurinha, performed in Rio de Janeiro in
July 2008. For the past five years, he has been
working as Alex Neoral’s choreography as-
sistant at the Imperatriz Leopoldinense Samba School in the carnival parade of Rio de
Janeiro. Since 2010, he has also worked on
the video edits for Focus Cia de Dança.
FELIPE PADILHA (Dancer) was born in Rio de Janeiro on December 27, 1986.
He began studying dance in
Rio de Janeiro in 2002. He
performed with Cia de
Atores e Bailarinos Adolpho
Bloch in the plays Ele por nós and Não Quebra
Nós, directed by Rosane Campello, between
2002 and 2004. He also took part in the shows
and musicals O Príncipe do Egito (2002), Mulan, Moulin Rouge (2003), El Dourado
(2004), Pas De Deux Lago do Cisne (2004),
and D. Quixote (2005), choreographed by
Renata François and directed by Valéria Moreyra. He created and performed in the solo
Corpo Transitório at the SESC/ N.FRIBURGO Solo Marathon in July/2005. Under the
supervision of Marcela Levi, Denise Stutz
and Marcia Rubin, Felipe performed Corpo
Transitório as part of the Panorama Rio
Dança 2005 Edition in the Os Novíssimos
project. He was invited by Esther Weitzman
to perform her Territórios (2005) and by the
choreographer Andrea Maciel for the remake
of the show Por onde os olhos não passam in
October 2006. He was a member Esther
Weitzman Cia de Dança (2005-2006) and
performed with Marcia Milhazes Cia de
Dança between 2007 and 2013, touring
through several Brazilian and European cities
in the works Meu Prazer (2008), O Beijo
(2010), O Bosque (2011), Camélia (2012),
and O Bilhete (2013), as well as two opera
plays: Lucia Di Lammermoor (2011) and
Pigmalião (2012).
WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY
MARISA TRAVASSOS
(Dancer) was born in Rio
de Janeiro on December 31,
1979. She began her dance
studies at age six at the
Eloisa Menezes Conservatory of Dance. At 15, she
joined the Maria Olenewa State School of
Dance in Rio de Janeiro, from which she
graduated in 1998. In 2000, she received a
full scholarship to attend the Ecole Superieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower
in France. There she danced the first role in
Paquita in the Palais des Festivals. In 2002,
Marisa was part of the corps of The Nutcracker in Cisne Negro Cia de Dança, São Paulo.
In 2003, she joined the Ballet of the Theater
Castro Alves, Salvador-BA. From 2004 to the
end of 2005, she performed with the Deborah
Colker Dance Company, where she danced
Rota, 4 por 4, and Mix e Nó. In 2006, she
began teaching ballet classes for various ages
and joined Focus Cia de Dança.
MÔNICA BURITY (Dancer) was born in Rio de Janeiro on February 18, 1983.
She received her Bachelor’s
degree in Dance from UniverCidade, and joined the
Dance Academy Carlota
Portella. She interned with Dance Company
Carlota Portella - Vacilou Dançou during the
last year. She was part of Cia Aérea de Dança’s
European tour with the show Samba Variationen in 2002. Mônica was a member of Cia Dani
Lima between 2002 and 2007. While there, she
created and performed the work Falam as
Partes do Todo? and performed in the projects
Real Life in 3 Chapters and Chapter 2 - Instructions. In 2004, she was invited by choreogra-
WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY
pher João Saldanha to participate in the project
Solos do SESC with a solo performance of Eles
assistem e eu danço. Um estudo para Mônica
Burity. She also presented this solo at the opening of “Domingo contemporâneo no Municipal” at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro in
2005, Comtempo-râneo in Oi Futuro in 2006,
Itaú Cultural in 2009 and the project “Entrando
na Dança” in 2009, among others. In 2013, she
was part of the Collective Br +13 in an artistic
residence for a month in Munich, Germany.
She has been a member of Focus Cia de Dança
since 2000.
Photo: Cintia Pimentel