Marlene Monteiro Freitas

Marlene Monteiro Freitas was born in 1979 on the Cape Verde Islands where she co-founded the dance company Compass and collaborated with musician Vasco Martins. She studied dance at the renowned P.A.R.T.S in Brussels, in Lisbon at the Escola Superior de Dança and at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.

She worked with Emmanuelle Huynh, Loïc Touzé, Tânia Carvalho and Boris Charmatz. Her creations, for example “A Seriedade do Animal” (2009–10), “Guintche” (2010), “(M)imosa” (2011), co-created with Trajal Harrell, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea, “Paradise – private collection” (2012–13), “of ivory and flesh – statues also suffer” (2014), “Jaguar” (2015), with Andreas Merk, and “Bacchae – Prelude to a Purge” (2017), are marked with great openness, impurity and intensity in the artistic expression.

“Bacchae – Prelude to a Purge” was invited to Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, Festival Montpellier Danse and Athens & Epidaurus Festival and others. Furthermore, the production was performed at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Wiener Festwochen, Münchner Kammerspiele and Ruhrtriennale.

In 2017, Marlene Monteiro Freitas received the Award for the best choreography from the Portuguese Society of Authors for her work “Jaguar”. In the same year she was honoured by the Capverdian government for her outstanding artistic work. In 2018 she was awarded with the Silver Lion for Dance at the Biennale di Venezia. Marlene Monteiro Freitas is the co-founder of P.OR.K, a centre for the production of performing arts in Lisbon, where she currently resides.

As of May 2021.