The elephant in the room
Vânia Doutel Vaz
Vânia Doutel Vaz is in artistic residency at Espaço Alkantara in September, creating her first solo The elephant in the room. The show will premiere in November at Teatro do Bairro Alto (Lisbon) as part of the Alkantara Festival 2022.
“The elephant in the room” suggests that in the presence of something evident it can be ignored. Elephants I carry, elephants brought with the audience and those emerging from this relationship between observer and observed. Now, with so many of us in a room, how many possibilities for a plural and fragmented elephant can be experienced?
In O Elefante no Meio da Sala elephants inhabit the room and dialogue.
Vânia Doutel Vaz
Credits
Conceived, created and performed by Vânia Doutel Vaz Dramaturgy Josefa Pereira Video Daniela Stubbs Levi and Vânia Doutel Vaz Light, Scenography and Technical Director Leticia Skrycky VMusic Adriana João Costumes Nina Botkay Residency collaborators Josefa Pereira, Luara Learth, Piny, Nina Botkay Produced by Alkantara Coproduced by Teatro do Bairro Alto, Teatro Municipal do Porto / DDD - Festival Dias da Dança, A Oficina / Centro Cultural Vila Flor Residencies Alkantara, Casa da Dança, O Espaço do Tempo, Estúdios Victor Córdon/OPART, La Fabrique Chaillot Thanks Rui Horta, Josseline Black, Ana Trincão, Giovanni Lourenço
Project supported by the residency program “La Fabrique Chaillot” – Chaillot- Théâtre National de la Danse (Paris) and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
Vânia Doutel Vaz, of Angolan-Portuguese descent, trained with the Royal Academy of Dance, the National Conservatory Dance School in Portugal, and Fórum Dança. Since 2018, she has been working as a performer and rehearsal director with Trajal Harrell on Séance de Travail; the Porca Miseria trilogy (Maggie the Cat, Deathbed, O Medea); The Romeo; Tambourines; Monkey Off My Back or The Cat’s Meow; and Welcome to Asbestos Hall, created for Kunstenfestivaldesarts and Holland Festival 2025. Since 2024, she has been replaced by Legia Lewis in the solo A Plot | A Scandal....