Marlene Monteiro Freitas

Jaguar is the name given to some horses, a dance piece and a marionette show. In Jaguar we are puppets and in this manipulated theatre, we entrust ourselves to others and place ourselves in their hands: Mandinga d’ Soncent, Wölfli and Blaue Reiter, among others. While they‘re nothing more than an extension of ourselves, they also are our own extension. Jaguar is an excerpt, a hunting scene, or a haunted hunting scene. — Marlene Monteiro Freitas 


MARLENE MONTEIRO FREITAS (Cape Verde, 1979) studied dance at P.A.R.T.S., in Brussels, and in Lisbon at the Escola Superior de Dança and at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In her native country, Cape Verde, she co-founded the dance group Compass and collaborated with musician Vasco Martins. She worked with Emmanuelle Huynh, Loïc Touzé, Tânia Carvalho and Boris Charmatz, among others. Her creations include: Bacchae - Prelude to a Purge (2017), Jaguar (2015), with Andreas Merk, of ivory and flesh - statues also suffer (2014), Paradise - private collection (2012-13), (M)imosa, co-created with Trajal Harrell, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea (2011), Guintche (2010), A Seriedade do Animal (2009-10), Uns e Outros (2008), A Improbabilidade da Certeza (2006), Larvar (2006) and Primeira Impressão (2005). The common denominators of these works are openness, impurity and intensity. In 2017, the Portuguese Authors Society (SPA) awarded Jaguar the prize for the best choreography, and in the same year she was distinguished by the government of Cape Verde for her cultural achievements. In 2018, the Venice Biennale has awarded Marlene with the Silver Lion for Dance. She is the cofounder of P.OR.K, her production company in Lisbon.