Marlene Monteiro Freitas Mal – Embriaguez Divina

[Dance]

From overflowing to minimalist, baroque to contemporary, and mythological to pop-inspired, here the deeply contrasting universe of the Cape Verdean artist Marlene Monteiro Freitas is used in an exploration of the diverse manifestations of evil. Whether it be pain, torment, spite, sorrow, or illness, she transfers these forms into her own referential spectrum, and in doing so once again brings us a work of a very complete nature.

Evil – Divine drunkenness. This title fits in perfectly with the audacious work of Marlene Monteiro Freitas, an artist whose innovative productions make liberal use of the grotesque figures of the carnivals she remembers as a child. She constructs her pieces in a unique way and their hybrid nature imbibes them with a gracefulness which is unsettling. In this latest production, she turns to evil in all its different forms, teasing them out in their various dimensions: moral, religious and political. Nine dancers have the task of evoking and embodying them, meanwhile the choreographer organises their graphic or geographic composition with an inventiveness that is as exalted as it is exalting. As opposed to Satan or Lucifer, witches or mutants, what we are presented with here is a grimacing, multi-facetted group that is both tribune and chorus. Set to a frenetic rhythm, it gives body and voice to deathly hallucinations, toxic testimonies, and germ-infested impressions, thereby unveiling a very human fascination for evil, and its many outpourings.