A meeting between generations to dance, discover, and free the dreaming body. Mariana Tengner Barros opens a space for creative exploration, where dance and movement become tools to question the world and reinvent the body. Here, every gesture is a question, every breath an invitation to presence. Through listening to the body, imagination, and play, the aim is to liberate movement from fixed forms and discover new ways of being and feeling.
In this intergenerational meeting space, young people and older adults share experiences, knowledge, and sensitivities, creating a living dialogue between different bodies, times, and memories. Dancing is serious play, opening space for curiosity, freedom, and awareness. In this experimental territory, the body becomes a place of discovery and transformation, where reality moves, changes, and is collectively recreated.
The sessions took place in November at ALSUD, in Mértola, with students from the Geriatrics Technician Course, culminating in a final presentation on November 24 at the Mértola Book Fair.
Biography
MARIANA TENGNER BARROS is a choreographer, dancer, performer, and artistic director of A Bela Associação. She has choreographed and performed numerous solo and group pieces, including The Trap (winner of the Audience Award at Jardin D'Europe – Austria, 2011), EXI(s)T(s) (2018), Instructions for the Gods (2017), A Power Ballad (2013), and Resurrection (2017), both co-creations with Mark Tompkins. Her work is fueled by her fascination with the “performance” of life, the ways people represent and present themselves within social planes of existence, and the tensions between worlds.
Over the past decade, she has investigated the figure of the witch, its connection to the sacred feminine, and its symbolism as a form of rebellion against oppression. Dance forms the foundation of her highly multidisciplinary work, with a strong musical contribution from collaborators Jonny Kadaver and Mee_K. She combines her work as a creator and performer with teaching in diverse contexts, as well as social action projects, notably the ongoing Floresta Invisível project, focused on the protection of centenary trees and the promotion of environmental awareness. Improvisation is a constant tool in her practice and work, both in research and creation.
As a performer, she has collaborated with Meg Stuart, Francisco Camacho, and John Romão. She is also a singer and keyboardist for the band KUNDALINI XS. In 2016, she received the Municipal Cultural Merit Award from Vila Nova de Famalicão City Hall in recognition of her professional career.
