Memorial do Convento Choreographed Reading and Workshop | São Tomé

SYNOPSIS

Based on the literary work Memorial do Convento by José Saramago, MEMORIAL DO CONVENTO _ CHOREOGRAPHED READING / WORKSHOP FOR CHILDREN (8 /12 YEARS OLDER) is part of and integrated into the educational program associated with the creation of the ballet Memorial do Convento. As a first contact with Saramago’s work, this choreographed reading and workshop for children unites the literary universe with the possibilities of dance as a narrative expression that starts with the body and movement.

The sonority of the word and the narration of the story find an echo in the performer’s body that chains itself in a narrative movement between the characters. Can a single choreographic body bring forth the narrative fluency of Baltasar, Blimunda, Friar Lawrence, and other characters in the novel? And where do the wills come from? And how does the construction of a convent emerge as the setting for a love story that is surrounded by the greatest complexities of human attitude? After the choreographic reading, a workshop follows where children are invited to explore the narrative basis of the movement and how it proposes to characterize the characters, the space and the time of the novel’s action.