Francisco Thiago CavalcantiBack

Francisco Thiago Cavalcanti

"My experience with Bowing Back Since I went through the selection process to participate in this project, I was captivated by Madalena Victorino's huge and bright eyes. I had the feeling that this was a job of goodness, truth, and love. I was overjoyed when I was selected. I needed a breath of fresh air after working as a migrant, laboring like a mule in Lisbon in subordinate positions. I needed to work with something that gave me a life force and pleasure: dance, performance, theater! Being in Odeceixe and Odemira helped me focus, organize my thoughts, and open myself to the unknown. I am a person dedicated to work, artistic research—I have a lot of love for it, and I also have a lot of love for humanity. I am a hopeful person, thirsty for justice and equity. Being part of Bowing renewed my desire to be close to real people with their problems, needs, emotions, and affections. Being close to that community felt like being with my family back in Ceará. Very simple, humble, hardworking people, and at the same time, joyful and colorful! The things I discovered and learned in this process of immersion and creation made me a slightly better person, artist. Without wanting to romanticize, I find it very powerful for those who travel, who move, who seek a better life. These people carry a lot of strength with them, and that's what I found during the collaboration on this project. Those little eyes were also shining, like Madalena's, like mine. During the creation, I had to confront the cruel and disheartening condition of migrants seeking refuge in Portugal. I had a lot of empathy because it was exactly what I was living and still live: the attempt to build a home, far from our roots. The most beautiful thing for me was learning to sing and dance songs and dances from other cultures. And with that community, to laugh, to smile. To live the difference in praxis. Together, we created another community, permeated with affection, poetry, respect, and hope. We hoped together. It was beautiful. I want more. The world has expanded a little more for me because of this beautiful experience. It was intense and tiring, but this sweat of work, when it is rewarding and elevates us as human beings, is the zest for living. All of us want to live, and may be that is why we connect. Nobody was born to be a seed."

Photography by: João Mariano - 1000 Olhos

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