© Pawel Czerwinski

iCoDaCo – International Contemporary Dance Collective

iCoDaCo is a large-scale Creative Europe project, co-financed by the European Union and coordinated by ilDance, and of which Instável is a partner. This edition will focus on the development and implementation of innovative strategies and methodologies for the creation and dissemination of contemporary dance, with the goal of creating a digital sharing platform, open to the community of contemporary dance artists from around the world.

Between 2024 and 2027, within certain previously defined periods, the collective will contribute to the development of new forms of knowledge, participate in activities to reach out to the local community and create and present artistic works. Participation in the project will be full-time during the stipulated periods.

The project involves the participation of twelve European countries, with nine collectives being formed.

 

About the collective

Frame 15

Aura

AURA (1997, Porto) is a transdisciplinary artist interested in issues of identity and sustainability and co-founder of Asterisco, a space and platform for artists belonging to social minorities. Holds a MA in Performance Making from Goldsmiths and a BA in Fine and Intermediate Arts from ESAP and the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. With the support of Instável – Centro Coreográfico, she presented ‘Trans*Performativity’ at Municipal Theatre of Porto within the scope of Palcos Instáveis, participated in PULSO – Support and Mentoring for Choreographers and currently co-moderates the conversation cycle Deseclipse.

Frame 16

Júlio Cerdeira

Júlio Cerdeira is an artist and performer, working in the fields of dance, performance, theatre and cross disciplinary practices. In 2015, he finished his degree in theatre from the University of Minho. In 2018, he completed his master’s degree in scenic arts at ESMAE (Porto), specializing in artistic direction and performance of contemporary dance. In 2019, he co-founded BANQUETE, which carries out research processes and creates performing arts pieces in the fields of theatre, dance, and performance. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in contemporary art at the University of Coimbra. From 2020, he is a university professor in ESMAE (Porto), teaching courses in dramaturgy, performance studies, dance and movement. As a performer and choreographer, he has worked with Né Barros, Elisabete Magalhães, Gustavo Ciríaco, Rogério Nuno Costa, Tales Frey, Sandro William Junqueira, DDD Festival, Instável – Centro Coreográfico, Ballet Contemporâneo do Norte, Family Film Project, Zet Gallery, Hošek Contemporary, Bienal de Cerveira, Centro de Arte Oliva and TRÊSPÊ Festival, among others.

Frame 14

Sol Garcia

Graduated from the Escola Superior de Dança (School of Dance). She began her dance studies through Urban Dances. Since 2009, she has worked as a performer, collaborating in the creations of Victor Hugo Pontes, Benvindo Fonseca, Olga Roriz, Companhia Erva Daninha, Nuno Preto, Albano Jerónimo, Joana Providência, Clara Andermatt, João Lucas, and Companhia Instável with the choreographers – Victor Hugo Pontes, Tiago Rodrigues, Hofesh Shechter and Roberto Olivan. Since 2014, has collaborated as an instructor in FAICC (Advanced Training in Performance and Choreographic Creation), organized by Instável – Centro Coreográfico. In 2018, completed her Master ‘s in Contemporary Artistic Creation at the University of Aveiro. In 2023, she collaborated as a movement assistant and performer in the creation Nós quem somos? by Associação Onda Amarela. In 2024, joined the cast of the film A Pedra Sonha Dar Flor by Rodrigo Areias and the collective iCoDaCo – International Contemporary Dance Collective. Teaches at various artistic institutions: Escola Superior de Dança (Lisbon), ACE – Academia Contemporânea do Espectáculo (Porto and Famalicão), Conservatório de Música da Jobra, Lugar Instável (Porto), Dancenter (Aveiro), Backstage (Braga), Dance N’Arts School (Coimbra), and MXM Art Center (Porto).

Frame 17

Mercedes Quijada

Mercedes Quijada is a choreographer, dancer, and visual artist. Born in Granada in 1991, she trained in Contemporary Dance at the Reina Sofia Professional Dance Conservatory in Granada and at Oficina Zero in Porto. Between 2008 and 2015, she was a student of two flamenco masters, Manolete and Mariquilla, and since 2017 she has studied improvisation with Mozambican choreographer Horacio Macuacua. She studied Fine Arts and holds a postgraduate degree in Artistic Education. Since 2019, she has been living in Porto, where she researches improvisation techniques and their relationship with visual arts, voice, and theatricality. She has gained stage experience with Eva la Yerbabuena and Victor Hugo Pontes, among others, and has participated in projects such as “Let’s Dance Europe”, directed by DE LooPERS-dance 2gether, “Cova” by Mafalda Deville, and “Lowlands”, directed by Helder Seabra for Companhia Instável. She collaborates with visual artists Luísa Mota (Porto) and Ania Catherie and Dejna Ti (Berlin), and with the training program Oficina Zero. She has been part of the project “Self-Mistake” since 2021. That same year, she created “Entre la Pena y la Pared” with Sara Santervás, premiered at the Súbito festival, and the solo “BESTA”. She co-created and danced the duet “SELF”, which premiered at the INTERFERÊNCIAS festival, directed by Beatriz Valentim. She directs “Perforartes”, a program that explores intersections between dance and visual arts in various galleries in Porto. She was awarded the Mórula grant by Instável, and her piece “A·Dentro” is part of Instável’s diffusion project Palcos Instáveis Segunda Casa.

About the project

The project is divided into some phases and initiatives, in which the selected artists will be involved.

a) The knowledge production phase, taking place between November 2024 and February 2026. This phase comprises fifteen weeks of artistic residencies, in Porto, lasting two weeks each (with the exception of the first).

The dates already confirmed for the residences in this part of the project are:
25/11 – 01/12/2024
03/03 – 16/03/2025
21/04 – 04/05/2025
02/06 – 15/06/2025
15/09 – 28/09/2025
20/10 – 02/11/ 2025
19/01 – 01/02/2026
16/03 – 29/03/2026

b) The collaborative creation process, over six weeks, in 2026. In this phase, the collective must develop a new creation that will be integrated into the programming of a mini-festival within the scope of the project. The mini-festival will last two weeks in 2027.

c) Throughout the entire project, artists will be involved in community relations activities and public events (workshops, classes, lectures, satellite creations, etc.) and document and share their experiences with other collectives.

During the process, artists will have access to a range of seminars, conferences and workshops designed to provoke thought, challenge artistic development and facilitate networking opportunities across Europe. They will also have access to mentoring and advice sessions with experts, depending on the needs and intentions of each artist.

The dominant working language, in collaborative processes between the nine collectives, will be English.