Davi Pontes & Wallace Ferreira

Repertório N.3 is the concluding piece within Davi Pontes’ und Wallace Ferreira’s choreographies of self-defence. The piece premiered at the 35^th São Paulo Biennial in December of 2023, following the summer of 2023 during which both artists worked at the piece’s completion at tanzhaus nrw during a residency. Now they have returned to tanzhaus nrw, presenting two parts of their Repertório Trilogy over one weekend. All parts relate to each other, yet there are both fine as well as broad distinctions in choreography and costume. Each part of the trilogy adds new facets that combine into an ever-growing image, performance by performance.

In 2018, Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira joined together to create a trilogy of choreographies of self-defence in the face of violent structures. They tackle three kinds of violence: Physical force, imaginary force, and epistemological force. Imaginary force means the subtle and invisible mechanisms of power and oppression that are embedded in cultural and social ideas. Epistemological force describes the forceful oppression and control of knowledge and perspectives that do not concur with the prevailing power structures. In their work, Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira want to understand how a body and everything it carries develops its own capacity for self-defence. How can you perform and stage force without providing it legitimization. With visionary fantasies, they suggest various resistant strategies: A powerful and sustainable way to remain in the world.

Davi Pontes is an artist, choreographer, and researcher working at the intersection of visual arts and choreography. He studied art at Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as well as at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo in Porto, Portugal. He has been presenting his works internationally in art galleries and at festivals for performing arts since 2016. In 2022, he and Wallace Ferreira won the Young Choreographers’ Award [8:tension] at the Viennese ImPulsTanz Festival. His work explores the connections between choreography, racism, and self-defence, and he wants to inspire the audience to enter into a critical rethinking and reflection on the production of history.

Wallace Ferreira is an artist with a background in dance and visual arts. Ferreira studied at the Escola Livre de Artes da Maré (ELÃ) as well as at the Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in Brazil. In 2022, Ferreira and Davi Pontes won the Young Choreographers’ Award [8:tension] at the Viennese ImPulsTanz Festival. Wallace Ferreira’s works have been shown internationally both at art galleries as well as at festivals for performing arts. Wallace Ferreira’s creations scrutinise convention and explore the intersections of movement, performance, voguing, and visual representation.

Duration: 30 minutes

Accompanying programme