QUASAR CIA DE DANçA

BIOGRAPHIEN

Quasar is a vehicle for artistic manifestation. By developing a multifaceted esthetica approach, the company has prompted audiences in Brazil and around the world to reflect on contemporary issues by means of a global language.
Founded in 1988 by Vera Bicalho and Henrique Rodovalho, Quasar Dance Company originated in Grupo Energia, which had been established in Goiânia, Brazil, in the early 1980s.
Throughout the period of Quasar’s creation, a quest for freedom from the academic strait jacket and the need to break free from pre-established models were the major driving forces guiding the actions of its creators. Such approachs enabled Quasar to pursue an interesting approach in which it bypassed purely esthetic concerns in dance so as to engage in reflections on social reality.

"In Brazil few dance groups develop the pertinence of Quasar, the transit between erudite dance culture and popular Brazilian music. Few, like Quasar, dedicate themselves to building a body which dances with the urban textures of our times. For this reason this company has managed to become unique in an age where fads have produced many pasteurizations." - Helena Katz (o Estado de São Paulo)
"Many are the possible looks which Quasar Cia. de Dança suggests to us. To watch them means the possibility to dialogue with the cultural diversity which is particular to us, with spaces of sound and movement...with silence. And also the memory of time, dissociated from body and knitted together by a network of interrelationships. Dancers with perfect technique creatively embody a language coupled to the poetry of life which is sometimes loaned by one, donated by another...articulated by elements from our culture that flee boundaries.” - Marila Velloso – Dance Researcher - Curitiba/PR


History

A quasar is a heavenly body with an extraordinary capacity to radiate energy. It seemed like a perfect name for a dance company which began to take form in the state of Goiás at the end of the 80’s. Completely cut off from the Rio-São Paulo circuit, the group founded by Vera Bicalho and Henrique Rodovalho proposed a rupture from academic rules and fed a necessity to not develop models. This posture made it possible for Quasar Dance Co. to cover an interesting trajectory, escaping the purely aesthetic relations of dance to more deeply explore its own language, thus synchronizing contemporary thought.

The dancers brought with them influences from the Grupo Energia of choreographer and video-maker Julson Henrique, but they wanted to follow their own hearts and try out new forms of artistic expression. To choreograph the first show, the group invited physical education student Henrique Rodovalho who, until then, had been involved only in martial arts. The result of the work resulted in “Asas” (Wings) - 1988, a play which lasted 1 hour.

Quasar began to find its way while narrating short comedy stories. At that time the scenic portrayal of interesting ideas still spoke louder than the proposals of movement “Under The Same Big Blue” (1990) gave more boldness to the company’s work which merged photography, video and music with improvisation on stage. Next appeared “Do Not Disturb” (1992), “Three to the Center” (1992) and “The Chicken’s Egg” (1993), performances which stamped the group with the rhythm of creation and a Mambembe identity. The group soon began to go on the road within Brazil. In Goiânia, Quasar has already influenced other groups and initiated a gradual job of educating the public for dance and theater, given the notable capacity of the group to communicate with its audiences. The first time the group received an invitation to do shows outside Brazil was during the opening of the XXV Festival of Art and Dance of Manizales, in Colombia.

The sophistication process of the work of Henrique Rodovalho and the Quasar Dance Co. was recognized during the performance “Versus” (1994), which went on to Germany (Internationales Summer Theater Festival, in Hannover). The Goiânia company began to awaken interest abroad even before being discovered on the Brazilian dance scene. In the same year, the group settled into the Nucaic (Nucleus of Assistance to Cultural Initiatives), a building which was donated by the Federal University of Goiás, where the administrative-financial structure of the company was pioneered under the coordination of the then-bailarina and co-founder, Vera Bicalho.

Nominated for the Carlton Dance, Quasar Cia. de Dança presented the show named “Versus” (1994) and was widely acclaimed by critics who announced an interesting moment in the history of contemporary Brazilian dance – the surrender of the great dance centers to the work developed by a group from Central Brazil. During the same year Quasar won the award for best performance in the III Susanne Dellal Dance Festival of Tel-Aviv, Israel.

The simplicity and charisma of “Register” (1997) also conquered the public in the second edition of Comfort em Dança in 1997. It opened precedent for the consecration of the work of Rodovalho and the company during Prêmio Mambembe when the Culture Ministry, via Funarte (Aid to Art Foundation), granted five awards to Quasar: Year’ Best in the following categories: group, spectacle, choreography, revelation male dancer, revelation female dancer.

Technical competence and artistic creativity were joined in the production of “Dividual” (1998), whose creation counted upon the partnership of the Culture and Labor Ministries for Project Open Scene. According to the choreographer and artistic director Henrique Rodovalho, it was at exactly this time that the troupe discovered a clearer and more unique proposal of movement as it made a statement on the loneliness conquered by contemporary man. This was the year that Brasil Telecom became a sponsor of Quasar.

Increasingly present in presentations throughout Europe and the United States, Quasar launched ”Choreography for Listening” (1999), based on the lives and careers of popular Northeastern Brazilian musicians. At the end of 2000, Rodovalho received the Best Choreographer award with the performance called “Women” (2000), at the XXI Award INBA - UAM (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes - Universidade Autónoma Metropolitana) for Choreographic Composition in Mexico City. This would be the first time that a foreign artist had received an award in 21 years. The work continued with the production of “Lend Me Your Eyes” (2001), the most poetic performance produced for Quasar. It debates the relationship of humans with time and the inversion of social roles.

“Dividual” and “Lend Me Your Eyes” were chosen to commemorate Quasar’s 15th birthday at Quasar Locomove, a project of integrated action targeting professional training, public eduction and the democratization of access to scenic arts. Both spectacles circulated through five Brazilian capitals (Curitiba, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and Goiânia), with the sponsorship of Petrobras and Brasil Telecom. Closing its activities for 2003, Quasar toured around the United States presenting “Lend Me Your Eyes” in six North American states with the support of the New England Foundation of Arts, National Dance Project and the University of Texas (Austin).

As a result of the 15th birthday commemorations, the company also inaugurated the Espaço Quasar in Goiânia. The establishment is a cultural center focusing on training, reflection, research and debate regarding contemporary art, based on corporal expression. In the beginning of 2004, “O+”, was presented for the first time. It is a show which celebrates dance and the desire to dance, commenting on the performance which exists in every man and woman. “It Could Only Be With You” which is a homage to Elis Regina and Tom Jobim was created in 2005 and immediately was pointed as one of the best pieces of the year by the magazine Bravo! and of O Globo and Folha de São Paulo, the biggest Brazilian news papers. In 2006, the company premiered its 19th choreography: “An invisible story”, at Alfa Theater, in São Paulo.



Awards

Concorrência FIAT/90 - A Magia da Arte

Estímulo/95 - Funarte/Ministério da Cultura

Mambembe Award/95 de Melhor Cia Funarte/Ministério da Cultura

Co-production Brasil/Alemanha/96
Best Performance for VERSUS, in the III Festival Susanne Dellal Center/96, Tel-Aviv/Israel

Henrique Rodovalho
has authored all pieces presented by Quasar Dance Company. Coming from a background in martial arts and Physical Education (ESEFE-GO), he performed as actor and dancer, before becoming a choreographer.

Through the years, his line of research based upon the existential complexity of body and soul led to the creation of unmistakable rhythmic signals that have given Quasar its unique identity, alternating vigorous and lacerating moments with humor and simplicity.
His involvement with video and performance production revealed his talents also as a director, and consequently Rodovalho has displayed a remarkable capacity to establish the desired communication between the public and the dancers. In addition to the traditional scenic routines, this award-winning choreographer resorts to multimedia strategies to forge an interaction between the real world and the imaginary universe recreated on stage.
He has been the recipient of national and international awards such as the Mambembe Award and the XXI Award for Choreographic Composition in Mexico. His talent and the acknowledgement conquered by the work developed with Quasar has enabled the choreographer to have the opportunity to work for great companies and professionals of dance in Brazil and abroad: The Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, Balé do Teatro Guaíra, Cia Sociedade Masculina, Discípulos do Ritmo, Cia de Dança Roda Viva, Rui Moreira, Flávia Tápias, Cia de Dança de Minas Gerais, the extinct Ballet da Fundação Gulbenkian, from Portugal, and the Ballet Teatro del Spacio, from Mexico. He was also invited to choreograph in Holland in one of the principal representatives of international contemporary dance, the Nederlands Dance Theater II. Rodovalho also has been working with two other international groups: Dancing with the Difference (Dançando com a Diferença), in Madeira, Portugal; and Phoenix Dance Theatre, in Leeds, England.

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