“To create a new piece, first you have to simultaneously occupy a space, create a territory and produce the conditions necessary to survive there."

When the Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças decided to go into the Favela da Maré, a vast area of the city of Rio, little visited by contemporary artists, the company was putting itself into an unstable situation. Their activities over the course of four years were a work of resistance. The community of Nova Holanda, an area of the Favela da Maré inhabited by 20,000 people, is the company's new home.

"Adapting, moving, developing strategies, demolition, repair, restoration. Consolidating the ground so that artwork can exist. Getting a construction site off the ground.”

Lia Rodrigues

Updating: December 2010

Born in Brazil, Lia Rodrigues, after training as a classical ballet dancer in São Paulo, founded the Groupo Andança in 1977. Between 1980 and 1982 she resided in France where she joined the Maguy Marin company. On her return to Brazil, she founded her own company, the Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças.

In addition to producing all her shows, in 1992 Lia Rodrigues created the contemporary dance Festival, Panorama da Dança, which she directed until 2005. Since 2004 she has developed artistic and didactic actions in the Maré favela, where she created, in partnership with Redes da Maré, the Centro de Artes da Maré in 2009, and in 2012 the Escola livre de Danças da Maré. 

She was awarded by the French government the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2014, she was awarded the Prize of the Prince Claus Fund followed, in 2016, by the SACD choreographic prize / France.

Her recent creations include Pororoca (2009), Piracema (2011), Pindorama (2013) and Para que o céu não caia (To prevent the sky from falling) (2016).

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).

 Founded in 1990, in Rio de Janeiro. Stimulating reflection, providing spaces for debate, raising other people 's awareness of contemporary art issues, generating intellectual and emotional encounters, in addition to supporting and investing in the training and information of new audiences are just a few. - some of the actions that the company has been developing since its creation. The Company remains active throughout the year, with courses, repertoire rehearsals and research and creation work, always in collaboration with the artist-dancers, and tours not only throughout Brazil but also in the whole world. 

In 2003, Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças was invited by Silvia Soter to collaborate with Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré, in Morro do Timbau, where she transferred her daily activities, helping to build and ensure the maintenance of a suitable place for dance, in addition to offering classes and workshops for young people in the community and donating a large collection of dance videos and books. 

In 2007, the company, still in partnership with Redes da Maré, launched a new project in the Nova Holanda community, in Maré. The creation of the Center des Arts Maré (CAM), a place of sharing, coexistence and exchange of knowledge, aimed at the training, creation, dissemination and production of the arts. CAM, in addition to being the headquarters of Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças, hosts, among other initiatives, the Free School of Dance of Maré. In addition to shows, the company organizes and offers conferences, debates and workshops, aimed at beginners as well as dance professionals. The Company has already supported other dance companies or artists who had no support or sponsorship such as: Paula Nestorov, Duda Maia, Gustavo Ciríaco, Frederico Paredes and Carmen Luz. 

Source: Lia Rodrigues' Website

More information: liarodrigues.com