The Brazilian choreographer Lia Rodrigues has always interwoven tradition and innovation, creating a dance where ancestral rituals merge with the new forms of urban life. For the 35th anniversary of her Companhia de Danças, she returns to the REF with Borda, a piece created in the Centro de Artes da Maré, which she has createde together with Redes da Maré for over twenty years in the favela da Maré, one of the most big favelas in Rio de Janeiro. In Portuguese, Borda not only means “to create” or “to decorate” but also “to trace a boundary” or “a barrier.” It is on these boundaries that Rodrigues seems to build her performance, weaving together fears, hopes, cultural identities, and the ever-evolving movements together with her collaborators. Nine performers take the stage, moving through fluid spaces where dreams and memories intertwine and reinvent themselves in a new tapestry of bodies and matter, fabric and plastic, merging and separating to create vibrant and powerful tableaux vivants.
Born in 1956 in São Paulo, where she studied Classical Ballet and History at São Paulo University (USP), Lia Rodrigues became involved in the contemporary dance movement in the 1970s and was part of the Maguy Marin Dance Company from 1980 to 1982. In 1990, she founded the Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças in Rio de Janeiro, offering year-round activities such as workshops, creations, and rehearsals. In 1992, she created and directed the Panorama Festival, the most important festival in Rio, for fourteen years. Since 2004, her company has focused on educational and artistic activities in the Maré Favela, in partnership with the NGO Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré. This collaboration led to the creation of the Centro de Artes da Maré (2009) and the Escola Livre de Danças da Maré (2011). Over 40 years, she has combined training, artistic creation, international touring, and educational workshops worldwide. She received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Officier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government and the Prince Claus Award in 2014.
Created by Lia Rodrigues
Danced and created in collaboration with : Leonardo Nunes, Valentina Fittipaldi, Andrey da Silva, David Abreu, Raquel Alexandre, Daline Ribeiro, João Alves, Cayo Almeida, Vitor de Abreu
Creative assistant: Amalia Lima
Dramaturgy: Silvia Soter
Artistic collaboration and images: Sammi Landweer
Lighting design: Nicolas Boudier
Lighting and Stage Management: Magali Foubert and Baptistine Méral
Soundtrack:
Production/Diffusion Manager: Colette de Turville
Production Manager: Astrid Toledo
Production and Diffusion Brazil: Gabi Gonçalves/ Corpo Rastreado
Secretary, Administration: Gloria Laureano
Teachers: Amalia Lima, Leonardo Nunes, Valentina Fittipaldi, Andrey Silva
Production: Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças
Coproduction: Le Kunstenfestivaldesarts – Brussels/ Maison de la danse, Lyon/Pôle européen de création,
with the support of the Biennale de la danse 2025 -Chaillot – Théâtre National de la Danse – Paris /
Le CENTQUATRE – Paris/ Festival d’Automne à Paris / Wiener Festwochen – Wien /
Festival La Batie – Comédie de Genève – Genève / Romaeuropa-Rome/ Pact Zollverein – Essen/
One Dance Festival-Plovdiv /Theater Freiburg/ Muffatwerk – Münich, Passages Transfestival – Metz /
Festival Perspectives – Saarbrücken, Le Parvis scène nationale Tarbes Pyrénées,
Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer – Berlin, théâtre Garonne, scène européenne – Toulouse
with the support of Redes da Maré and Centro de Artes da Maré
Lia Rodrigues is an international associate artist of CENTQUATRE-Paris, Maison de la Danse in Lyon,
Pôle européen de création and the Biennale de la danse de Lyon, France
