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Sinopse

Júlio Cerdeira

MANUAL DE DEFESA

November

2026

Premiere

Fri
27
Sat
28

Sinopse

In a piece that oscillates between theoretical essay and various bodily practices — contact improvisation, jiu-jitsu and queer affectivity — we witness the struggle of two queer bodies to protect and assert their identities at a historic moment marked by successive attempts at erasure. We witness a struggle that grows in strength through movements of amorphisation, redefining bodies and identities, demystifying hatred, and establishing new forms of affectivity. Surrounded by self-defence manuals, these two bodies intertwine in dance practices and in martial arts training focused on unarmed self-defence, presenting knowledge as the greatest shield for collective and community protection against hate speech and disinformation. In MANUAL DE DEFESA, an epistemological apposematism emerges from camouflage. —  Júlio Cerdeira 


Following the performances of MANUAL DE DEFESA and Mechita on Friday, 27 November, there will be a talk with the artistic teams.


resistance

queer

amorphisation

contact-improvisation

defence

Two people are holding each other, their bodies entwined on a grey floor.

Info sobre horário e bilhetes

Fri

27.11

19:30

Sat

28.11

19:30

Campo AlegreStudio

Aditional info

  • Price 
    7€

  • Duration 
    20min
  • Age rating 
    To be classified  


Acessibilidades do espetáculo

Accessible to wheelchair users
Accessible to wheelchair users

Author's bio text

Júlio Cerdeira (1994) is a queer artist who works at the intersection of artistic practices to rethink the materiality, identity and political dimension of queer bodies. He reinvents contact improvisation practices to compose fluid and transitory bodies, creates and stages feminist dramaturgies, and questions the place of violence in contemporary society. He holds a Master’s degree in performing arts, specialising in artistic direction and performance, from ESMAE – Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo. He holds a postgraduate qualification in contemporary dance from the same institution and a degree in theatre from the University of Minho. He is currently pursuing a PhD in contemporary art at the College of Arts, University of Coimbra. As a performer and artist, she has collaborated with creators and organisations such as Né Barros, Elisabete Magalhães, Gustavo Ciríaco, Tales Frey, Rogério Nuno Costa, Sandro William Junqueira, Diogo Liberano, the International Contemporary Dance Collective, the Bosnian National Theatre Zenica, the Festival of International Alternative Theatre (Podgorica), Hosek Contemporary, Instável – Choreographic Centre, Ballet Contemporâneo do Norte and the Cerveira International Art Biennial, amongst others. In 2019, he co-founded BANQUETE (Braga), where he works in the fields of creation, research and programming.  


Ficha Técnica

  • Artistic direction and choreography 
    Júlio Cerdeira 

    Music and video 
    Miguel De 

    Lighting 
    Pedro Abreu 

    Performed by 
    Inês Filipe 

    Text and dramaturgy 
    Cátia Faísco, Júlio Cerdeira 

    Costumes 
    Jordann Santos 

  • Communication design and video recording 
    Luís Belo 

    Mediation 
    Joana Gomes Martins 

    Creation, production and communication 
    Banquete – Associação de Investigação e Criação em Artes Performativas 

    Support 
    Ardemente, Arte Total, Backstage - Escola De Dança e Artes Performativas, Instável - Centro Coreográfico, IPP – Escola Superior de Música e Artes Do Espetáculo, Jornal do Centro, Rádio Universitária do Minho, Universidade do Minho 

    Co-produced by 
    Teatro Municipal do Porto, Instável - Centro Coreográfico, Theatro Circo, Teatro Diogo Bernardes/Município de Ponte de Lima 


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