Marlene Monteiro Freitas

Marlene Monteiro Freitas (Cape Verde, 1979) studied dance at P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels), at ESD and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon). She worked with choreographers such as Loïc Touzé, Emmanuelle Huynh, Tânia Carvalho and Boris Charmatz. Among others, her creations include Canine Jaunâtre 3 (2024, for Le Ballet l’Opéra National de Lyon), LULU (2023, with Theater and der Wien and Wiener Festwochen), RI TE (2022; with Israel Galván), ÔSS (2022; for Dançando com a Diferença), the performance Idiota and the exibition X AND (2022; around the painting of Alex Silva), Pierrot Lunaire (2021; with Klangforum Wien and Ingo Metzmacher), Mal-Embriaguez Divina (2020), the installation Cattivo (2019), Canine Jaunâtre 3 (2018; for Batsheva), Bacchae-Prelude to a Purge (2017), Jaguar (2015), Of Ivory and Flesh-Statues also suffer (2014), Paradise-Private collection (2012), (M)imosa (2011; with Trajal Harrell, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea), Guintche (2010), A Seriedade do Animal (2009), Uns e Outros (2008), A Improbabilidade da Certeza (2006), Larvar (2006), Primeira Impressão (2005). NÔT (working title) is her latest creation for Avignon Festival. The common denominator of these works is openness, hybridism, impurity and intensity.

In 2015, in Lisbon, she co-founded, P.OR.K, the structure that since then has been producing her work. In 2017, Jaguar was awarded the SPA prize for choreography and the Cape Verde government distinguished her cultural achievements. In 2018, she was awarded a Silver Lion by the Venice Biennale, in 2020, Bacchae was awarded the Prize for the Best International Performance by Les Prémis de la Critica d’Arts Escèniques of Barcelona, in 2022 she was awarded the Chanel Next Prize and the Evens Arts Prize.