dance / theater / circus / music / illusionism

cerca trova

ABOUT

"Cerca trova" is a Latin phrase meaning "seek and you shall find". Cerca Trova represents the artistic collaboration of Joana Couto and Leo Calvino, and this name was chosen as both deeply believe in the sense of wandering through the questions of life, to find out the answers - and the path to do so is frequently art.Joana Couto studied dance from an early age and continued this path until the present day, developing her skills in floorwork and partnering with many choreographers which she worked with. Leo Calvino acted as a magician, juggler and dancer in different scenarios and countries before moving to Porto, Portugal, where they met each other. The two creators began culminating their artistic visions in 2020, with an interest in mixing their different areas of research. Since then, they have established partnerships in their personal projects, collective creations and have also worked for other companies as a creative duo.Their first co-creation, “Apneia” premiered in Teatro Municipal do Porto in 2022, and it travelled to 8 other national theatres. The piece was supported by several institutions and received deeply well by the audiences it crossed. It was the first work that gave visibility to the creators and that was reflected in the workshops and meetings that followed, which were often well attended. In this piece, the creators explored the universe of dreams, and its connection with the world of the dead. They used contemporary dance and modern illusionism as the artistic forms to create a fictional place where absurd things can magically be true.“Budô” is their second creation, which premiered in 2025 in DDD Festival, in Porto, with a national and international tour planned for 2025/2026. The project “Budô” received financial support from the Portuguese government \ DgArtes and GDA Foundation, two important institutions in Portugal. “Cerca Trova” was created officially in June 2025, as a reassurance of the work of the creators and their aim to continue to create artistically together.Joana and Leo's vision for the contemporary creations involves the use of different artistic disciplines as tools to create abstract narratives about subjects that matter deeply to both of them. They believe that the frontier between those disciplines is blurry and the common language behind them is a fertile soil for research. Although technical mastery is not the primary focus, it is held in high regard; executing complex techniques with excellence and precision is a big step for expressing meaningful concepts.

• Joana Couto
• Leo Calvino

budô

Artistic Direction: Joana Couto and Leonardo Calvino
Creation and Interpretation: Joana Couto and Leonardo Calvino
Original Soundtrack: Joan Pérez-Villegas
Costume Designer: Rafaela Ciríaco
Executive Production: Joana Couto
Assistant Production: Susana Loio
Grateful to: Naoto-san, Sensei Adriana Sobojobo, Mariana MalojoSupport: Portuguese Republic - Direção Geral das Artes, Balleteatro \ Festival corpo+cidade, Festival DDD \ Teatro Municipal do Porto, Instável - Choreographic Centre, Sekoia - Performative Arts, L’Obrador, AgitLAB, Dance School Fafe and Fafe Municipity.

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apneia

Conpect and direction: Leonardo Calvino
Creation and interpretation: Leonardo Calvino and Joana Couto
Production: Joana Couto
Technical assistance: Juan Fresina
Scenographic assistance: José Maurício Martins Urso
Original soundtrack: Rodrigo Ribeiro
Light design: Leonardo Calvino and Rodrigo Ribeiro
Artistic participation: Maree Lawn and José Maurício Martins Urso
Marketing and communication: Rodrigo Ribeiro
External eye: Gustavo Hjerl, Mariana Malojo e Bruno MartinsThanks to: Amélia Sousa, Domingos Ferreira, Gracinda Teixeira, Hadrien Haie, Maria Inês Neves, Pedro Couto, Tatiana Neves and Joseph Viatte
Coproduction: Instável – Centro Coreográfico in colaboration with Teatro Municipal do Porto and Kale Companhia de Dança
Support: AgitLAB, Estúdios Victor Córdon, nunArt, Sekoia – Artes Performativas, Teatro da Didascália

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Sinto Muito

Artistic direction and choreography: Joana Couto
Dramaturgy: Leonardo Calvino
Scenography and costume: Beatriz Sarmento
Original soundtrack: Rodrigo Ribeiro
Interpretation: Joana Couto
Light design: Joana Couto, Leonardo Calvino and Rodrigo Ribeiro
Special participation on the premiere: Gracinda TeixeiraProduction: Beatriz Sarmento and Joana Couto
Light and sound technicians: Leonardo Calvino and Rodrigo Ribeiro
Technical direction: Leonardo Calvino
Image capture: Rodrigo Ribeiro
Video editing: Rodrigo Ribeiro and Beatriz Sarmento
Artistic consultants: São Castro and António Cabrita
Documentation: Beatriz Sarmento
Marketing and design: Rodrigo RibeiroSupport: DGArtes, Secretaria de Estado da Cultura/ Direção Geral das Artes, Armazém 22, Ballet National de Marseille, Campus PCS, Companhia Instável, Companhia Paulo Ribeiro, Derida Dance Center, Kale Companhia de Dança.

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Inercia

Concept, choreography and interpretation: Leonardo Calvino
External eye: Gustavo Hjerl and Joseph Viatte
Original soundtrack: Rodrigo Ribeiro
Extra track: Veleta Two Step | The Boats
Light design: Leonardo CalvinoSpecial thanks: Joana Couto, Gustavo Hjerl, Joseph Viatte, Yehudith Tegegne, Raxi Figueiredo, Andre Hidalgo, Aragorn Boulanger and my mom

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if only this was about food

Creation and interpretation: Joana Couto
Creative support: Leo Calvino
Original Soundtrack Rodrigo Ribeiro
Light design: Leo Calvino
Produciton: Joana Couto
External Eye: Mariana MalojoSupport Instável - Choreographic Centre, Teatro Municipal do Porto, Kale Companhia de Dança, Armazém 22, AgitLab, Improvise and Organise, Câmara Municipal de Águeda

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Contact

Phone: +351 913 382 498 / +351 919 759 700Email: [email protected]