Sol Garcia

Rumor is part of a cycle of choreographic performances that Joana Providência has been creating at the Teatro do Bolhão, which are inspired by the works of contemporary visual artists. The work of Christian Boltanski—painter, sculptor, photographer, and filmmaker, who uses installation as a fundamental support of his creative universe—serves as the starting point for the piece. Boltanski’s presence, however, is not merely a formal choice for the performance: his themes, particularly regarding death, forgetfulness, childhood, and memory, form the driving forces of the show. Rooted in biography, both real and fictionalized, the creative universe of the performance is envisioned as a journey through memory and identity.

The quest is for the “small history” within History: in what way do family memories, small records, and told stories serve as a living breathing of the History that is gradually written in books?
How does personal and intimate experience reflect a particular historical and social context, and in what way does the memory of this experience persist? Rumor also seeks, in the records and testimonies of Portuguese political prisoners, to find a living reflection of the social and political context of a dictatorship.