Ei! Marionetas / Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora

Ei! Marionetas - Encontro Internacional de Marionetas de Gondomar 2026

BLIND [ SHOW ]

• Duda Paiva Company < BRAZIL + NETHERLANDS
• M/12 . 1hr 15mins . 3€


• stroboscopic lighting – this performance contains flashing lights that may cause discomfort to people who are photosensitive or have epilepsy


• In this solo piece, the acclaimed dancer and puppeteer Duda Paiva draws on his childhood memories, marked by an illness that covered his body in blisters and left him temporarily blind. His surreal journey to recovery involved both Western medicine and shamanic practices.
  BLIND transforms this experience into a metaphor for disability, rejection and overcoming adversity. In constant interaction with the audience, the show is both moving and full of humour. Without ever being didactic, it reveals the political through intimacy, in a rich theatrical tapestry that weaves together dance, puppetry, adaptations of Yoruba chants from a unique Afro-Brazilian subculture, and pulsating forces of sound and light.


• I found pain in the light and beauty in the darkness

BLIND

Created in collaboration with Nancy Black of Black Hole Theatre (Melbourne, Australia), and under the guidance of Afro-Brazilian anthropologist Patrick Oliveira, BLIND is an immersive visual theatre experience that combines dance, sound, light and the manipulation of foam sculptures. Inspired by the illness Paiva suffered in childhood — which left him with scars on his skin and temporarily blinded him — the piece is an embodied healing ritual. Through his self-taught “Object Score” technique, the artist rewrites his body, transforming it into a living map of limits, vulnerability and resilience. “Bringing life to things that are not alive is a form of healing and a reminder that we do not own life; we merely care for it.”

Duda Paiva Company

Duda Paiva Company creates performances with dance and puppets. Associative, narrative performances – usually without text – that are performed in theaters, at festivals, indoor and outdoor locations, in the Netherlands and internationally. Performances in which people of different backgrounds, ages, and preferences can identify themselves.

Our home city is Amersfoort. We develop our projects in the Laswerkplaats, and we present our first try-outs in that space. In the city, we work together with cultural organizations and artists.

In the Netherlands but also internationally, it is our ambition to work with dance and puppets in a comprehensive way; as a fully-fledged, theatrical instrument, transcending discipline, not bound by borders or fitting within boxes. Every year our productions cross the border, into the world, on their way to encounters with an as yet unknown audience and unknown makers. For example, with the production ‘Blind’ we managed to make a trip from Melbourne to Wuzhen, from New York to Tokyo.

art

links

• dudapaiva.com
• vimeo.com/dudapaivacompany
• facebook.com/DudaPaivaCompany
• instagram.com/dudapaivacompany
• youtube.com/channel/UC1X1a7Ggqmt0Rqu5N8A0MSQ

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