The series *Tempo de Dança* portrays, in its 10 (ten) episodes, several stages and particularities in the career of those who dance in Brazil. This documentary series addresses everything from the beginning of preparation for professionalization to the moment of leaving the stage and other dance professions besides dancer. The life of a dancer hides stories, works, sounds, details and characters that are far from those who watch a show. Behind this career, there is another vigorous and passionate movement: the paths of a professional.
In each episode, we show part of the day-to-day of those who dance professionally in Brazil: the beginning in an entrance audition for a company; the selection for the cast of a choreography, the ways of creation of different artists; the dance beyond the capitals; the countless rehearsals, among other approaches. Despite many setbacks, dance and dancers have a lot of joy, challenge, artistic solutions, and ways of dancing.
EP 01 - Premiere
A premiere brings many professionals to the stage, in addition to the dancers. At the Balé da Cidade de São Paulo and the Balé do Teatro Guaíra, lighting, costumes, sound, stage managers, and the choreography itself take on another dimension in the theater, on stage. On premiere days, the tensions and concentrations are of various kinds: technical team, creators, rehearsal directors, and dancers. Many stories happen before the stage is swept so that the curtains can close for the audience to arrive.
EP 02 - Auditions: (Re)beginning
Audition. In this episode, in companies of different sizes, places, and styles, we follow candidates, directors, and teachers during the audition: beginnings and re beginnings, the challenges of getting the long-awaited contract. Candidates for the São Paulo Companhia de Dança, Paraopeba Cia de Dança, and Balé Teatro Guaíra are approved, and others are left out of a selection.
EP 03 - Ways of Creating
In this episode, Rodrigo Pederneiras, Cassi Abranches, Alex Soares, among other Brazilian choreographers, talk about how they built their styles, how they fuel their ways of creating, the challenges for a small market in Brazil, and their achievements.
EP 04 - Creation and Remounting
Choreographers Jomar Mesquita (Mimulus Cia de Dança - MG), Ivan Berdardelli and Mônica Augusto (Cia Dual - SP), artistic director Juliana Adur and executive producer Cindy Napoli (Descompanhia de Dança - PR), and remounter Giovanni di Palma (São Paulo Cia de Dança - SP) talk about the creative process, the challenges of each work, and how they balance their movement research with the cast. On the other hand, dancers talk about what it is like to adapt to different styles and the possibility of being selected to be part of a cast.
EP 05 - Love and Pain
To talk about this theme that is so dear to the world of dance, physical pain, dancers from the Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo Companhia de Dança, Paracuru Cia de Dança, and others who have left the stage talk about chronic and acute problems. Professionals talk about what it is like to work with pain, how it is overcome on stage, or the difficulty of facing the farewell to professional dance before its time.
EP 06 - Rehearsals
Three companies show what the day-to-day of rehearsals is like: Clarin Cia de Dança (urban dances), São Paulo Companhia de Dança (classical dance), and Dança sem Fronteira (contemporary dance). We follow each of them, the tireless repetitions, the details that each style requires. Through their attempts, successes, and errors, we discover what the intentions of the choreographer or the work are.
EP 07 - Challenges and Changes
The challenges of staying in the same company and the desire to face changes. Independent dancers from the Balé Teatro Guaíra, Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, and São Paulo Companhia de Dança tell their stories and what keeps the dance alive in their bodies: whether it is believing in big companies or embracing smaller projects.
EP 08 - Beyond the Capitals
Outside the big centers, how does a company live and survive in the interior and on the coast of Brazil? Paracuru Cia de Dança, on the coast of Ceará, Cia Jovem de Dança de Jundiaí, in the interior of São Paulo, and Paraopeba Cia de Dança, a small town in Minas Gerais, reveal their experiences, expectations, and forms of recognition far from the theaters and stages of the capitals.
EP 09 - Living from Dance
The experiences of large companies and those of small or independent ones are placed side by side in this episode, in which we learn about their challenges and ways of living from dance: Grupo Corpo (MG), Mimulus Cia de Dança (MG), São Paulo Companhia de Dança (SP), Cia Dual (SP), Balé do Teatro Guaíra (PR), Descompanhia de Dança (PR). In general, the larger ones offer a certain stability of production for those who dance; the independent ones, smaller in structure, give artists the chance to create in a more personal way. One is not better than the other, but they complement the dance scene.
EP 10 - Dancing, and After?
Is it possible to continue in dance after leaving the stage? The episode talks with professionals who have left the scene at different times: artistic director Iracity Cardoso, ECA professor Sayonara Pereira, ballet master Elias Bouza, professor and still dancer Irupé Sarmiento, rehearsal director Mariana do Rosário, and artistic coordinator Raymundo Costa. These professionals tell how farewells from the stage happen, their desires, their new professions, and how dance continues in their lives in different ways.
