Clara Andermatt & João Lucas

Musician and composer Orlando Barreto, more commonly known as Pantera [Panther], was born in the Island of Santiago, Cape Verde, in 1967, and he left us at the age of 33. His daughter Darlene, who was only 6 years old when her father passed, has been carrying out a deep research on his life and work. It was within this framework that she challenged us to pay him a tribute. Pantera opened new paths for his country’s music. In his voice, there was the heartbeat of Cape Verde and its people. Exploring traditional ways, he made a poetry full of love, insight and assertiveness sprout. We are able to find our own vision over those features through the experiences we shared with him as a friend and as an artist. Aside from the reencounter as we revive his creativity and affection, we follow an exploration path, plunging into his land, costumes and culture, always projecting them into a contemporary world where he also placed himself. This is thus a performance that is built upon the wanderings of memory. And above all it is an intense and dynamic collaboration experience. Each of the performers establishes a personal relation as one remembers one’s own experience and gives us back a creative wealth that translates into the value and meaning of this tribute. Between what remains to be done and what will remain to be said, this is our message to Pantera. — Clara Andermatt & João Lucas


Clara Andermatt started her dance training with her mother, Luna Andermatt. She graduated from the London Studio Centre and the Royal Academy of Dance, in London. She joined the Lisbon Dance Company, directed by Rui Horta, and Companhia Metros, in Barcelona, directed by Ramón Oller. In 1991, she returned to Lisbon for good and created her own company, having produced roughly 60 pieces, which have been presented in Portugal and abroad. In 1994, she starts a close relation with Cape Verde that results in several pieces, education activities and works with local artists—a complicit and enduring relation that is still alive.

João Lucas is a pianist, composer and researcher who graduated in piano at the Lisbon National Conservatory. He worked with some of the most important contemporary theatre and dance creators in Portugal, having participated in over 60 pieces as a composer, many of which awarded both at home and abroad. Having settled in Brasília in 2010, he has a master’s degree in arts from the University of Brasília and is currently pursuing a doctorate at the same university. He has been working with Clara Andermatt since 1993.