Mata Leão

How can dance be developed into a practice of self-defense? Is it possible to make violence visible without re-enacting the dynamics of violence? How does each body develop its own capacity for self-defense? With their Repertório trilogy, the Rio de Janeiro-based choreographers Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira delivered a response to the rise of the far right in the country. At the end of October 2026, shortly after the next presidential election in Brazil, Pontes and Ferreira will premiere at the Volksbühne with a new production, for the first time outside Brazil.Together with six performers from Berlin, across Europe, and Brazil, Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira expand the practice they have been developing since 2018. Working alongside performers with different experiences, needs, and modes of stage presence, their choreography of self-defense takes on a new form. Mata Leão confronts racist violence, unafraid and without a melancholic note. Questioning the historical conditions of colonization and white supremacy, their choreography of self-defense opens up an ethical and political space for experimenting with embodied forms of resistance. Pontes and Ferreira work with poses, gestures, and collective actions informed by contemporary political theory. Elements of funk and ballroom emerge, only to be disrupted and reconfigured. Powerful movements are punctuated by moments of divergence, pauses, and playful gestures. Humour and irreverence serve as strategies for drawing the audience into a space of shared responsibility. In Celeste Burlina’s scenography, the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz transforms into the site of a choreographic experiment.

Artists/Collaborators: Sebastião Abreu (mit), Koko Yeji Boanyah (mit), Wallace Ferreira (mit), Gavin Law (mit), Mai-Júli Machado Nhapulo (mit), Davi Pontes (mit), Rayne (mit), Galina Rodríguez (mit), Wallace Ferreira (Konzept, Choreografie, Kostüm), Davi Pontes (Konzept, Choreografie, Kostüm), Celeste Burlina (Bühne), Podeserdesligado (Sound), Shaly López (Licht), Vânia Doutel Vaz (Choreografieassistenz), Tarun Kade (Dramaturgie), Marlene Monteiro Freitas (Outside Eye), Something Great (Associate Production, Internationale Distribution), Rodrigo Zorzanelli (Regieassistenz), Anna Klaine (Bühnenbildassistenz), Djuna Reiner (Kostümassistenz), João Victor Toledo (Probenübersetzung), Felipe Faria (Movement Practice), Denise Ferreira da Silva (Poethical Reading), Marco Ober (Inspizienz), Carolina Brinkmann (Künstlerische Produktionsleitung), Crescencia Jiménez (Regiehospitanz), Zeynep Ada Kienast (Regiehospitanz), Celina Cruz Huayhua (Bühnenbildhospitanz), Elise Urban (Kostümhospitanz)

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 29/October/2026 19:30 ( 2 more dates )
• Venue Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz - Großes Haus
• Address Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, 10178 Berlin-Mitte