Holland Festival: ÔSS Marlene Monteiro Freitas (CV)

Ôss is the Creole word for bone. The word also resembles the expression ‘oss’, common to karate practitioners, that refers to concepts like pressing, pushing and supporting. In this piece for nine performers, including six dancers, Freitas explores the hard and soft aspects of the body, from the skeleton and intestines to the skin.

The work of the Cape Verdean Marlene Monteiro Freitas balances the grotesque with the magical, combining different traditions and influences: contemporary dance, hip hop, classical music, samba, circus, film and pop culture. With this piece, in collaboration with Madeira’s Dançando com a Diferença, Freitas shows how people’s greatest strengths lie in their unique characteristics. The group of charismatic performers epitomise Dançando com a Diferença’s motto: ‘dance with our bodies, not despite our bodies.’

"What interests us in this piece is the bone as a keeper of ancient secrets that reveals anatomical orientations and gives structure to the soft and fragile parts. We are building a strong skeleton where the foot serves as the brain, the heart serves as an elbow and the knees are a liver and an ear. This is possible for us, of course, as the difference between hard and soft matters little."