Marlene Monteiro Freitas

To explore the various forms of evil, a group sinking into a sea of ​​paper turns into a choir positioned on a rostrum. The title of this work by Marlene Freitas makes several references to the ambivalence of evil. It can barely refer to restlessness, discomfort, pain, suffering, agony, grief, torment, emptiness, horror and also evil. However, Divine Inebriation posits evil as a state of divine hallucination, of Dionysian ecstasy. Evil takes many forms. It appears as a determining force in a large number of stories, and theater has long been a context in which it is revealed and exposed. For some, the experience of the abyss of evil is a prerequisite for art. George Bataille places evil and art in close proximity, as two forces that oppose a lawful world of rational calculation. It perceives children as beings committed to evil, rebelling against an adult world of inhibiting conventions. The Divine exaltation as a transformative insurrection of Evil against Good, inviting us to break with order, to escape normalization and to deviate from the script.


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.