Political desperation is the impetus behind Rodrigo Batista’s work, which he sees as performative revolt. Revolt against, among other things, the decline of democracy in Brazil, a development which has radically changed Batista’s understanding of his role as a theatre practitioner. If democracy has failed, what does that mean for representation in and of itself? How can political statements be staged, and what kind of artistic attitude can trigger real insurgency? With these questions as his starting point, he created a two-part solo performance. 

In Side A Rodrigo’s furious alter ego performs a dance solo to a soundtrack of Brazilian pop songs. Rodrigo throws his body into the space before the audience, defying all shame. Approaching a state of despair and fury, he performs a fervent dance based on movements and gestures that evoke celebration, despair, the grotesque and the sexual. His furious energy is palpable.

In The B-Side, with his body as a locus, Rodrigo develops explicitness into an aesthetic, investigating straightforward language, gore-pornographic visuality and decolonisation as a territorial battle, all as part of an intense physical research approach drawing on notions of iconoclasm, mutilation, blood and sex.

20:00 doors
20:30 SIDE A
21:10 break 
21:45 SIDE B
22:30 end

BIO

Rodrigo Batista is a theatre maker and educator based in Amsterdam. Most recently he has developed a collection of pieces, in the context of the DAS Theatre Master Programme, that have the ambition of bringing insurrection into the performance space. Previous to his work in Europe, he worked for over 10 years with his São Paulo-based group [pH2]: estado de teatro. They presented theatrical investigations in dialogue with philosophy, cinema and dance that were awarded several grants and prizes. Rodrigo has presented works in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands and also worked as a theatre educator in several cultural and social programmes in São Paulo.

“My art is here as a reminder that Europe has the responsibility to give territory back. Bolsonaro and his friends should disappear. The migrant anger should not be suppressed – ANGER is POWER. If we don’t have the same rights, turn SOLIDARITY UPSIDE DOWN.”