Is it pos­si­ble to break out of tap dan­ce con­ven­ti­ons by con­nec­ting it with acro­ba­tics and con­tem­po­ra­ry circus?

Acrobat Maria Madeira is fas­ci­na­ted by the power of details within per­for­man­ces and how they can impact move­ment and emo­ti­on. Besides being busy per­for­ming she has a varied movement/​body prac­ti­ce pas­sing through dan­ce, rol­ler ska­ting and she has been part of a choir and using the voi­ce in dif­fe­rent pro­jects — she lets the­se prac­ti­ces influ­en­ce how she thinks, cre­a­tes and appro­a­ches her work — making her a ver­sa­ti­le artist. 

Maria now bre­a­thes new life into an old fas­ci­na­ti­on. She has often been fas­ci­na­ted by tap dan­ce. But often she felt it was too sta­tic and very tied to its own sty­le, lin­ked to jazz dan­ce and musi­cals and often fai­led to break from the­se con­ven­ti­ons. Maria inves­ti­ga­tes how to break with con­ven­ti­on and sear­ches for the con­nec­ti­on point bet­ween tap dan­ce and acrobatics.

For this week ́s residency/​research at Cirklabo, Maria will be wor­king together with Thijs Van Scharea drum­mer, com­po­ser and pro­du­cer based in Brussels. Rooted in jazz and beat drum­ming, his inte­rest lies at the inter­sec­ti­on bet­ween orga­nic spon­ta­nei­ty and off grid pro­du­ced music. As an out­si­de ear Thijs will be wor­king on rhythm explo­ra­ti­on, impro­vi­sa­ti­on and tools to explo­re rhythm and how to apply it to tap dancing.