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The Lugar Futuro festival returns this month to celebrate Spring with dance. Four days with premieres, dances, cinema and lectures that bring together the professional universe and artistic training and young renowned artists and choreographers, in a continuous opening of the public to contemporary dance
A four-day program directed by Leonor Keil and the premiere presentation of a piece directed by choreographer Joana Providência for Presente – Companhia de Dança Jovem de Viseu are two of the moments that the fourth edition of the Lugar Futuro festival has in store for the days of March 21st to 24th. A festival that is growing and which, according to Albino Moura, from Lugar Presente’s management, shows the reputation that this initiative is achieving inside and outside Portugal.
One of the highlights of this edition’s program is the presentation of two absolute premieres. One by Chen Nadler, the choreographer selected by the public in the third edition (co-production with the festival) and a piece directed by choreographer Joana Providência for Presente – Companhia de Dança Jovem (Viseu).
For Albino Moura, another of the structuring moments of this program is the presentation of a selected set of works entitled “first works”. It is “a careful selection of six pieces written by young Portuguese and foreign choreographers, from a set of more than 170 applications from 32 countries, which as usual promises to surprise with the diversity, quality and freshness of the proposals”.
“It’s incredible, we had 175 applications, more than double last year. This means that the Festival is having an impact, even outside of Portugal, and a reputation, which means that it continues to grow”, he maintained.
The program also consists of the presentation of shows, films, master classes and conversations with the public, with a view to exchanging experiences between participating creators and performers, joined by students and teachers from national and foreign dance schools, in a live sharing environment with the public in the city of Viseu and also around the world in live streaming format.
Albino Moura also highlighted the partnership with the InShadow video-dance festival, which in collaboration with the Cineclube de Viseu presents a selection of five award-winning short films in 2023.
The partnership with Escola Superior de Dança is also maintained, which this year presents works by Bachelor and Master students, in addition to the partnership with Balleteatro do Porto and the Conservatório de Dança de Murcia, which are performing for the first time in Viseu.
“The Festival represents a lot for Lugar Presente because it is one of the activities that bridges the gap between the world of training and the professional world. It’s a need we’ve felt since we launched the first finalists of our dance course. We think that the gap is huge for those who were finishing a secondary vocational course and we thought that we had to do something to bring these two universes together, which should be more in contact than they are”, highlighted Albino Moura.
For the person responsible, the connection to what is done outside of Portugal “is fundamental for the students and for the project and structure itself because we are no longer just a dance school, we have a theater company operating for two years, we have this festival now in its fourth year and a young dance company with a repertoire”.
