a Folia - création
a Folia - création
With a Folia, Marco da Silva Ferreira departs from a 15th century Portuguese phenomenon to explore the concepts of ecstasy, euphoria and collective rebellion, as a driver of cultural, political and artistic construction.
Folia, a musical pillar of the Renaissance, has its origins in popular fraternization, where shepherds and shepherdesses danced quickly and confusedly, carrying men dressed as women on their shoulders. Of rural origin, linked to fertility rituals, festivals, music and dance, it quickly ended up also marking court festivities.
The term Folia was born, in portuguese, from the association with the word fole (bellows) – an object used to fan the fire. And it also has a close connection with the word fôlego (breath)– which means "take a breath” – and folga (slack) – a day of rest or leisure. The folião/foliona - the happy person, freed from work, allows himself to fill his head and lungs with fresh air and behave with follie.
It is from this web of historical references, multiple meanings and metaphors that this phenomenon derived its relevance in the past. With a little provocation, one would say that this impetus would also find meaning in the present.
Based on this historical context, the choreographer then organizes a fictional encounter between the Portuguese festival of yesteryear and contemporary dances.
Marco da Silva Ferreira
Marco da Silva Ferreira was born in 1986 from Santa Maria da Feira and graduated in physiotherapy by Instituto Piaget, Gaia (2010), career who has never exercised but who focuses his studies on Health Sciences. The body practice began in 1996 through sport, specifically high-performance swimming. In 2002, he abandoned it to give way to body practices in performing arts. His path was self-taught through dance styles that flowed in an urban context with afro-descendant influences. Between 2002 and 2010 the focus and lexicons of dance became increasingly diverse and closer to contemporary improvisation tools and composition. In 2010, he won the TV contest So You Think You Can Dance- Portugal.
Professional performer since 2008, have been dancing to André Mesquita, Hofesh Shechter, Sylvia Rijmer, Tiago Guedes, Victor Hugo Pontes, Paulo Ribeiro among other. The highlight in Marco’s career are HU(R)MANO (2013) which was in the Aerowaves Priority Companies (2015) and was performed in national and international circuit until 2018. BROTHER (2016) consolidated an authorial discourse in a line of reflection on dance and its meaning today, creating connections with its origins and drawing a line made from the contemporary body. It premiered at Teatro Municipal do Porto-Rivoli and has toured extensively internationally and nationally, having also participated in Aerowaves Priority Companies, 2018. Bisonte (2019) is a performative identity that floats in an artificiality between hysterism and melancholy, playing with gender masks, power and fragility. SIRI (2021) is a collaborative work with the portuguese filmaker Jorge Jácome part of the Foundation d’entreprise Hérmes - New Setting Program. A Sci-fi Dance Piece were light
robots and humans are dancing together.
In 2022 it is planed the premier of førm Inførms with the South African Company Via Katlehong in Julidans festival; a duet titled Fantasie Minor with CND de Caen, and by the end of the year C A R C A Ç A that is part of Big Pulse Dance Alliance Between 2018/2019 Marco was associated artist in Teatro Municipal do Porto and in 2019/ 2020/ 2021 became associated artista in Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen
in Normandie. From September 2023, Marco is associated artist of Maison de la Danse in Lyon until September 2025