Choreographer Daniel Matos wins Best Performance award in Croatia

Presented on the 2nd, at the event held in the Croatian city of Pula, the new creation by the choreographer and performer, 'A pedra, a mágoa' ('The stone, The sorrow'), was recognized by the jury as a work of "profound artistic integrity, expressive power and creative courage", adds a note from the play's producer.

Premiered in Portugal at Teatro das Figuras in 2024, and with its international premiere at the 31st PUF Festival, 'A pedra, a magia', which was part of the program of the Portuguese Platform for Performing Arts (Montemor-o-Novo), is based on the observation of abandoned quarries in Portuguese territory, "proposing a parallel between the erosion of landscapes and the disintegration of the family structure", highlights the producer.

"Positioning itself on the border between public and private, the work leads the viewer to a mythological space of welcome and disruption, where bucolic tenderness and the sensuality of the profane merge," considered the jury of the contest regarding the piece by the artist born in Lagos, in 1996.

For the jury of the Croatian festival, it is "a piece that fuses artistic precision with raw intimacy, opening space for deep reflection."

"Using the body as a testimony and a rhetorical tool that resonates more powerfully than words, Daniel Matos intensifies the emotional impact of universal human experiences through his aesthetic minimalism," adds the jury, highlighting that the visual quality of the work "evokes a pseudo-pastoral image of strong symbolic power, which remains in the memory."

'A pedra, a mágoa' features the collaboration of performers Lia Vohlgemuth, Elia Pangaro and Joana Simões, and is supported by an original soundtrack inspired by Debussy, written by João Galante aka Coolgate.

The artistic collaboration and image of the piece is the responsibility of João Catarino, and the lighting design and technical direction are the responsibility of Manuel Abrantes and Ana Carocinho, in a production by CAMA cultural association with producers Joana Flor Duarte and Diana Martins.