A Plot/ A Scandal

A plot exposed, a foul deed enacted invites scandal. In the spirit of revolution or romantic musings, scandals provoke an imagining of the impossible. Utopian or mundane, how might scandal reveal what lies unwittingly close to our fantasies? And how does it expose where society places its limits? If life is a scandal waiting to be plotted, how do we position ourselves within its matrix? Immoral and lacking propriety, scandals are incidents where fantasy and pleasure take center stage. Guided by the questions of whom this pleasure is for and at what expense, Lewis’s new plot explores the stage where scandals abound. Weaving together historical, anecdotal, political, and mythical narratives − ranging from an interest in the Enlightenment thinker John Locke, Maria Olofa (Wolofa) in the slave revolt of Santo Domingo in 1521, Cuban artist and revolutionary Jose Aponte, and Lewis’s great grandmother, a figure Lewis turns to within her plot as a guide of resistance − the choreographer constructs the poetics of refusal at the edges of representation. A dance between affect and embodiment, seeing and being seen, A Plot/A Scandal is a scene in the making where the excitement for that which does not fit might find its place.

The work unfolds through the following parts:

Prelude

Plot 1 John Locke

Plot 2 Rebellion

Intermezzo: John Locke cleans up his mess

Plot 3: Story of Lolon / fuck up the plot

Outro: Repair ?

About the performer Vânia Doutel Vaz :

Vânia Doutel Vaz, Angolan-Portuguese, studied dance in Portugal with Royal Academy of Dance, Escola de Dança do Conservatório Nacional and Fórum Dança; was a member of Nederlands Dans Theater, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, PUNCHDRUNK (et al); has been in collaborations with Tânia Carvalho, Shannon Gillen, Adam Linder, Uri Aran (et al).

Vaz has an ongoing collaboration with the dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell in the trilogy “PORCA MISERIA”: “O Medea” for the Onassis Foundation (2017) and “Maggie the Cat” for Manchester International Festival (2018-present), “Séance de Travail” for Schauspielhaus Bochum (2019), “Friend of a Friend,” a live-streamed event at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (2021), rehearsal direction and performer in “The Romeo” for Schauspielhaus Zürich (2023-present) and rehearsal direction of “Tambourines” for Schauspielhaus Zürich (2023-present).

Vaz directed and assisted movement with Portuguese theater groups such as Teatro Griot, Aurora Negra, Teatro Praga (et al); created and performed “O Elefante No Meio Da Sala” (2022, PT/FR), “ad aeternum” (2020, PT), “Bureauc’Art” (2019, BE) and “THEIR” (2015, USA).

Vaz has been a member of the Black Arts’ Union (União Negra das Artes – UNA) since its foundation in April 2021.

In 2023, was distinguished among the 100 most influential black personalities in the Lusophony by Bantumen in the POWERLIST.