CANTAR by Francisco Thiago Cavalcanti & um cavalo disse mamãe

Eight people embark on a long journey on foot. We don’t know where they came from or where they’re going. They travel to escape a foretold catastrophe. In this resilient, stubborn, and circular walking, they open space for imagination and enchantment—like a decaying circus with melancholic yet hopeful performers. And they sing.

They sing to ward off misfortune, to ease the weight. They sing because the cicadas sing. They sing as Gal Costa once did on Cantar, her 1974 album released in the darkest days of Brazil’s military dictatorship. A singing that is a cry for freedom, in times of war, religious intolerance, and violence — when societies and their States rehearse the return of authoritarian policies, of silencing and death. They sing as an act of resistance. They sing even if the circus loses its canvas, even if the sea floods the cities, even if humanity forgets how to love.

According to Greek mythology, on the star Tau Ceti — in the constellation of the whale, twelve light-years from Earth — there is a miraculous remedy capable of healing humans from sadness. Maybe that’s where they’re headed.


CANTAR is the latest performance by Francisco Thiago Cavalcanti, created after 52blue — also produced by Alkantara. Together, the two works form a diptych exploring themes such as displacement, exile, survival, and resistance.

CANTAR premieres on 21 November at the Emílio Rui Vilar Auditorium at Culturgest, as part of Alkantara Festival 2025.

Credits

Creation, performance and direction Francisco Thiago Cavalcanti Co-creation and performance Bárbara Cordeiro, Francisca Pinto, Mayara Baptista, Piero Ramella, Sara Paternesi, Clarissa Rêgo, and Yaw Tembe Assistant direction Francisca Pinto Original music Yaw Tembe Lighting design and technical direction matéria leve [Created by Ska Batista and Josefa Pereira; Development and mentorship by Leticia Skrycky; Writing on the lighting project by Naiana Padial] Documentation and social media Walesca Timmen Photographs Walesca Timmen and Sara Giraldo Executive production Sinara Suzin (Alkantara) Production Alkantara and Culturgest Co-production Alkantara and TMP – Teatro Municipal do Porto Creation support OPART, E.P.E. / Estúdios Victor Córdon Co-production residency O Espaço do Tempo Support Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Goethe-Institut – Culture Moves Europe, La Caldera, Companhia Instável, PAF (Performing Arts Forum), Forum Dança, Centro Cultural da Malaposta, Ilê do Mestre Peixinho, and N’goma Capoeira Angola