A process of artistic creation as an impulse for citizenship in the rural zone of Piauí, Brazil

Choreography and direction: Lina do Carmo with Pro-Arte Fumdham
Based on the story of Anne Marie Pessis
Electro-acoustic compositions and image-design: Luiz Melo Paiva

"Art encourages us to move from the surface inwards of things and with all we are made. In this way we are all developing our regard for the learning of Life." (Lina do Carmo)

The Serra da Capivara National Park is a source for the search of ancestry imagination that sprouts of the rich rock painting scenery. In contradiction to this deep memory today exists an unfair social reality involving a new young generation hidden in the dry area (sertão) of Piauí’s countryside that also wishes to bring their voices into the world culture.

The choreographic project “PACTO RENOVADO" (RENEWED PACT) 2004 was an impulse for the art-education process of the Pro-Arte FUMDHAM students. It was based on an ethno-choreographic research, inspired by the short story of the anthropologist Anne-Marie Pessis. It shows the importance of creating consciousness through an active participation in the process of self-preservation and preservation of the cultural environment.

Lina do Carmo’s choreographic language was used for this social humanistic project to work on the self expression of the collective, involving also all the community living around the Serra da Capivara National Park. Together with sixteen children of her dance class she established a long creative process of interfaces for the social project Pró-arte Fumdham. It deals with the myths and roots present in the imagination of people from this place, guiding their own interpretation of the diverse rock painting motives and inserting reflections into their everyday life. Between realism and fiction the conception brings different languages: dance, theatre, film and electro-acoustic tracks interacting with environment sounds, northeastern rhythms and songs. The multi-media aesthetic launches an interior vision of the contemporary world, recovering a body-sign as primordial perception beyond time and communication. Trying to combine dance and archeology, the choreography creates a poetical fusion: environment, art and science come together. Art and nature become one.

Supported by FUMDHAM (Museum of the American Man Foundation), Ayrton Senna Institute, Caixa Econômica Federal, in co-production with the 2nd INTERARTS Festival 2004.