The Divine Cypher is a performance by Ana Pi that is based on the poetic and political research the artist has been developing in Haiti on ancestral sacred gestures and their perpetuation in the imagination. In a fantastic dialogue with experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, choreographer Katherine Dunham, and contemporary transdisciplinary Haitian artists, Ana Pi questions how her dances and voodoo resonate today.

The performance «The Divine Cypher», by Ana Pi, will occur exclusively on 08.06, at 19:00. The ticket price is 5€. Tickets can be purchased at the theater premises, one hour before the show, or in advance through the following link: https://ticketline.pt/evento/the-divine-cypher-ana-pi-64889

The two women share the same transversal creative process of absolute curiosity, which combines the artistic process with a methodology of research. Maya Deren, from the 1940s onwards, had empirically studied Haitian culture, its dances and Voudounheritage; an experience reproduced in the book The Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti and the posthumous documentary film with the same title released in 1985.

Ana Pi weaves in a same move fragility and balance, archives, imagery of the past and futurity. Recipient of a scholarship awarded by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Cisneros Institute for this creation, she observes how these sacred dances have been preserved and how they resonate today. What memory is there of them? What role does video play in the transmission of these practices? How to expand this cypher, this round of fantastic gestures? The Divine Cypher circulates between images and dance, fiction and time travel, inspired by the filmed gestures and dreams of Maya Deren or those of her predecessor, Katherine Dunham.

Choreographic and scenographic conception, videos, research and interpretation: Ana Pi

Light creation: Bia Kaysel

Light reinterpretation: Jean-Marc Ségalen

Stage management, alternating: Bia Kaysel and Jean-Marc Ségalen

Music and sonorities: Jideh HIGH ELEMENTS, Emy de Pradines and Auguste de Pradines – Ezili Nenenn Ô, Julien Creuzet and Maya Deren

Real memories, dreamed dialogues and/or multiple collaborations: Katherine Dunham, Maya Deren, Emy de Pradines, Lumane Casimir, Martha Jean-Claude, Toto Bissainthe, Marie-Ange Aurilin, Ginite Popote, Tara El, Wendy Désert, Gerda Boisguené, Murielle Jassinthe, TRVANIA, Jenny Mezile

Semiotic outlook: Profe. Dre. Cida Moura

Philosophical outlook: Profe. Dre. Maria Fernanda Novo

Plastic outlook: Julien Creuzet

Filter design: EmilienColombier

Costumes: Carla de Lá, Miliane et Isabella Rodsil | @remexefavelinha

Contributions to scenographic realisation: Studio Julien Creuzet with Garance Cabrit and Louis Somveille

Production / diffusion: SarahBecher

Communication / press: LouiseMarion

Production: NA MATA LAB

Executive production: Latitudes Prod. – Lille

Co-productions: The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America & Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA ; Terra Batida, Alkantara, Portugal ; Be My Guest — Réseau international pour les pratiques émergentes ; La Briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne ; CNDC, Angers ; Kunstencentrum Vooruit, Gand – within the framework of the cooperation programme Hauts-de-France / Flandres.

Film co-production: with the participation of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain’s Soirées Nomades

The project is supported by the Spedidam, the Region Ile-de-France and the DRAC Ile-de-France.