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Doing incredible things, exceeding ourselves, being the best at something, ‘champs’ as grandfathers call their grandsons, is still seen as a noble feature of humankind. It is that determination that we find in the people destined to win that served as an example to us, driving us to also win so many contests, long for challenges and exceed ourselves. What we never understood is what good that did to the world. This piece is meant to be said by two gymnasts as they prepare for high-level competition, collapsing with the impossibility of keeping focus in the face of present-day dilemmas. — Lígia Soares

Credits

Created, written and directed by
Lígia Soares

Performed by
Lígia Soares, Maria Jorge, Beatriz Lapa, Rita Cerqueira

Music
João Lucas

Set design
Henrique Ralheta

Lighting
Rui Monteiro

Production director
Mariana Dixe

Direction and creation assistance
Beatriz Gaspar

Co-production residency
O Espaço do Tempo

Residency
Festival Materiais Diversos

Co-production
Teatro Municipal do Porto, Centro Cultural de Belém, Teatro Académico Gil Vicente, Festival Materiais Diversos

Suppport
Ginásio Clube Português, Federação de Ginástica de Portugal, Vidalgym

Acknowledgment
Ana Pinheiro, André Nogueira, Artur Romão Pereira, Filomena Palma, Hugo Oliveira, Joana Carvalho, Nuno Vidal, Sara Monteiro, Sara Nabais, Teresa Simas, Tiago Portilha

My Victory as a High Competition Gymnast was written with the support of DGLAB - General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries.

© Alípio Padilha

Lígia Soares is a Portuguese choreographer and playwright. Her work has been presented at home and abroad, appearing in several theatre and contemporary dance programmes. Together with Andresa Soares, she was the artistic director of Máquina Agradável between 2001 and 2014. She also developed several programming contexts with other artists such as Demimonde or Face-a-Face. Since 2015, she has focused her research on finding scenic devices that include the presence of the spectator as part of the performance’s dramaturgy. Her plays RomanceCinderela [Cinderella]Civilização [Civilisation] and Memorial have been published by Douda Correria. She won an artistic and literary creation grant from the Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries (DGLAB) in 2020.

Lígia Soares

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