With La Ribot, there was a different kind of audacity. For Amoedo, La Ribot was the name of an unreachable myth that culminated in a historic encounter. Their meeting was brought together by a twist of fate by the name of Paz Santa Cecilia, a friend and producer of La Ribot, who served as the ‘matchmaker’. “‘Happy Island’ brought something new. The audience reacted very well to the piece, but they sense that this is a new language, which I think has something to do with the way La Ribot stages things. It’s her language, but it’s also that of the dancers, their everyday lives, their dreams, desires, eccentricities, which people don’t usually associate with people with disabilities. So basically the audience ends up wondering: ‘What is this? Where am I?’”
As such, La Ribot is introducing a new phase for Dançando com a Differença, which is now nearing 20 years of activity. The name, Dancing with Difference, and the notion of ‘inclusive dance’ (or inclusive art more generally) no longer suffice. A form of art that is sullied by humanity and desire is imposing itself, demanding the institution of another level of aesthetic and erotic equalities (or differences). “It’s obvious that there is a political stance here that raises other questions”, says Henrique Amoedo. When you allow people with disabilities to take over this territory within the world of dance without applying a label to them, they are opening up a new space, they are conquering a space that until recently would have been off limits to them. It’s only logical that we would want to stretch things a little further. I think this is one of the main goals of our work, to make space, to create conditions for ourselves and for those who will follow in our footsteps. Today the concept of inclusive dance can no longer be just a bunch of people with and without disabilities dancing together and putting on shows. For me, inclusive dance provides dancers with a foundation. And I’m talking about technical and artistic matters here. But it also involves each person working to better themselves, to gain their autonomy, their independence, to form an opinion. In bringing all of this together, I’ll end up with a better dancer and a better person, who can then go about the usual business of any dance company, with a challenging calendar involving international tours, as we now have.” And this is just the beginning of the story ...