For the third year in a row, INTERPLAY Festival has resulted in the winner of EFFEA Grant, a project by European Festivals Association, co-funded by European Union and sustained by European Union by the Creative Europe Commission.
The grant is destined to support projects realized in network with European festivals with the aim of sustaining emerging artists, their professional growth and the mobility of young creativity.
Involved as partners in two different projects, both winning of the grant,, INTERPLAY Festival has hosted in residency in June 2024 the Collectif ES supporting the production of their new creation About Lambada. The residency is in partnership with La Briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne (project leader) and Fabrik Potsdam /Potsdamer Tanztage – international festival for contemporary dance.
In November 1989, the song topping the German charts was Lambada by Kaoma. Released a few months previously, Lambada was one of the first truly global hits, deliberately manufactured, down to the smallest detail, to be the song of the summer and get the whole world dancing. It met with unprecedented success, and that year people in the western world discovered a new way of dancing, moving their bodies, and being together. Taking the correlation of these events in time as a starting point, About Lambada connects the fall of the Berlin wall with Lambada, borders with bodies moving together. It asks: How can the pop anthem, Lambada, bring us together (again)? About Lambada is a physical study of Lambada – an international music, dance, social and political phenomenon.
The project Forget me not is realised partnership with Quinzena de Dança de Almada – International Dance Festival, Šibenik Dance Festival, Dance Festival Malta, Masdanza International Contemporary Dance Festival of the Canary Island, Aerowaves Festival Sofia organised by Derida Dance Center and Interplay Festival.
In this project, choreographers Catarina Casqueiro & Tiago Coelho will work for the co-creation of “Forget Me Not”. To achieve this, different residencies will be occurring in the countries of the leading and three partner Festivals fostering the contact with different European contexts. The work developed by the duo will be enriched with contributions from recognised artists dealing with the same subjects: dance, body and memory. These contributions will happen during the residencies and also in online meetings with the participation of all organisations involved. The “Forget Me Not” project, led by Quinzena de Dança de Almada, will bring together many international creative minds present in the different festivals, collaborating in the exchange of ideas and experiences.
