Mariana Tegner Barros
Mariana Tengner Barros (1982) is a choreographer and performer. She holds a degree in Dance from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (UK, 2003). She was an apprentice at Ballet Theatre Munich, under the artistic direction of Phillip Taylor (2004). She completed the choreography research and creation course at Forum Dança (2009). She was part of the Solo Performance Commissioning Project At Once, directed by choreographer Deborah Hay (Findhorn, Scotland) in 2009.
In 2004-05, she was associate artist at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, where she choreographed BEST IMITATION OF MYSELF for VERVE05 and co-founded the artistic collective The Resistance Movement with Said Dakash in Leeds.
She created and performed AND SO?…THE END (2010); APRÈS LE BAIN (2011) THE TRAP (2011), winner of the Jardin d’Europe audience choice award (Austria); PEÇA DO CORAÇÃO: FOR HIM (2012); A POWER BALLAD (2013), a duet with Mark Tompkins, and “THE WEATHER™” (2016).
In 2013, she began a collaboration with musician Jonny Kadaver, creating performances with live music. They created several pieces together for Ballet Contemporâneo do Norte, including the group piece END OF TRANSMISSION (2014), a solo, MACHA (2015), and a piece for young audiences, O NOME DA HISTÓRIA (2014). For the London company Edge – The Place, they created DANCE AGAINST THE MACHINE and RIDERS ON THE STAGE (2014/15), also presented at Casa das Artes in Famalicão. In 2013, Tengner Barros founded the association A BELA, of which she is the artistic director.
She has collaborated with various artists in different projects, including Agnieszka Dmochowska Said Dakash, Raquel Castro, Elizabete Francisca, Pedro Bandeira, António Mv, Nuno Miguel, Rogério Nuno Costa, Vânia Rovisco, Nuno Ferreira, Filipe Lopes, João Costa Espinho, João Ferro Martins, João Pedro Vale e Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, Abraham Hurtado, Mark Tompkins, Davis Freeman, and Meg Stuart. Highlights as a performer include projects with choreographers Filip van Huffell, Né Barros, Francisco Camacho, Jerôme Bel, Carlota Lagido, Tiago Cadete, Rafael Alvarez, John Romão, Rogério Nuno Costa, Dinis Machado, and Meg Stuart. She was artist-in-residence at EIRA from 2010 and 2012 and is an EIRA associate artist since 2013.
Estelita Mendonça
Estelita Mendonça completed her studies at the Oporto Fashion Academy in 2007. She presented her first collection in 2010 as part of the Bloom platform at Portugal Fashion, where she continues to present her work, now at the main platform.
She received the Best New Talent Prize at the Fashion Institute Awards in Portugal in 2012. In the same year she presented her work internationally for the first time, at the Madrid and Vienna Fashion Weeks.
In February 2016, Mendonça received an Honourable Mention in the Best Designer category at the Bloom International Fashion Showcase in London. More recently, she participated at Pitti Uomo in Florence and presented her collection at AltaRoma.
Jonny Kadaver
Jonny Kadaver is a musician and composer. He studied classical organ between the ages of 6 and 9 at Gepur Miratejo. At 11, he began to play guitar and had lessons at Clube Recreativo Miratejo Rouzinol until the age of 14. He tested at the Conservatory and Academia de Amadores de Música de Lisboa. At 15, he began his studies at the Professional Music School in Almada, but did not conclude the course. His training is grounded in Blues and Flamenco. He wrote and performed his first original composition at the age of 12 and has, since then, built a career in alternative music, from metal to hip-hop, techno to rockabilly. He was part of several bands, including Utupia, Devil, Act of Anger, Hattemachin*, The Living Dead Act, Crab Slackers, Droga, Techno Widow, The Last Ravers on Earth, Them Strange Sick Blues, and JESUS K & the sicksicksicks. Between 1997 and 2000 he worked first as an assistant and then producer at the recording studio Margem Sul, in Almada. Between 2002 and 2008 he lived in London, where he developed some of his projects and collaborated with musicians and producers from the international scene. He has produced and composed music for other artists’ projects. A BELA ASSOCIATION was founded in 2013, and since then he has designed sound and created original soundtracks for dance and performances by Mariana Tengner Barros. He recently initiated a new solo project, PandemiCK, and started the bands Mojo Power and Kundalini Xs.