O Samba do Crioulo Doido
O Samba do Crioulo Doido is a sharp, head-on critique of the racial stereotypes associated with black bodies that haunt our collective subconscious.
Luiz de Abreu made this play in 2004, in a Brazil plagued by racist and homophobic violence. In it, he employs a radical choreographic language, questioning identity and the way it is expressed in the body. It became a classic in the Brazilian contemporary dance repertoire, and almost two decades later was passed on to Calixto Neto, in a context where it still resonates remarkably.
O Samba do Crioulo Doido is a parody of both carnival and classical ballet, shifting cultural signs to expose their unconscious connotations. The performer symbolically returns his body to its materiality. With transgressive humour, he breaks through the essentialising and exoticizing clichés in which the body is shrouded. O Samba do Crioulo Doido is a roguish appropriation of a body often considered subordinate, an invitation to repossess itself and its history, an approach aimed at creating a language of transmission, a tool for knowledge.
• Calixto Neto is a choreographer and performer from Recife, Brazil, currently based in France. He works with many choreographers such as Mette Ingvartsen, Lia Rodrigues, Anne Collod and Bo-Kevin Jean, as well as developing his own projects such as Outrar and his most recent work Feijoada.
design, direction, choreography, scenography, costumes, production Luiz de Abreu | performer Calixto Neto | artistic collaboration Jackeline Elesbão, Pedro Ivo Santos, Fabrícia Martins | light creation Luiz de Abreu, Alessandra Domingues | stage manager Emmanuel Gary | soundtrack Luiz de Abreu, Teo Ponciano | production and distribution Julie Le Gall | production assistant Michael Summers | making of the props (mouth) Ophelia Leclercq | executive production VOA | delegated production CND Centre National de la Danse at the recreation and till April 2022 | coproduction Centre chorégraphique National d’Orléans, Charleroi Danse, Teatro Municipal do Porto | revival residencies at Casa Charriot, Espaço Xisto Bahia, Casa Rosada. O Samba do Crioulo Doido was created in its initial version in 2004, as part of the Rumos Itaú Cultural programme and recreated in this version in February 2020 at La Comédie de Reims within the frame of Festival Faraway / Manège de Reims.
