dance / theatre / 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, musician and dancer in different scenarios and countries before moving to Porto, Portugal, where they met each other. The two creators began sharing 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.
budô
apneia
sinto muito
inercia
if only
agenda
| Project | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Budô | M.A.R. (Sines-PT) | 14 september 2025 |
| Budô | Centre Cultural Les Étoiles (Fès - Marroco) | 3 december 2025 |
| Budô | Centre Cultural Les Étoiles (Casablanca - Marroco) | 4 december 2025 |
| Budô | Teatro Ribeiro Conceição (Lamego-PT) | 14 march 2026 |
| Workshop | GretUA (Aveiro-PT) | 19 march 2026 |
| Budô | GretUA (Aveiro-PT) | 20 march 2026 |
| Budô | Teatro Stephens (Mealhada-PT) | 20 june 2026 |
| Apneia | Teatro Cine de Gouveia (Gouveia-PT) | 15 september 2026 |
budô
The term Budô (武道) is usually translated from Japanese as “the way of the warrior”. Dô (道) means path, a course of life to which you give your energy and body. Bu (武) is associated with martial, war, military art.However, a semantic game can be made because Bu (舞) is equally dancing, movement. Therefore, Budô can be interpreted as the martial path and as the dance path. Budô is the title of the work we propose, due to its transparency with our intention of culminating and highlighting the
connection of these two ways of being.
PREMIERE:25 APR 2025 - FESTIVAL Corpo+Cidade \ Festival DDD, PORTO (PT)TOUR:17 APR 2025 - FESTIVAL EASTER DANCE WEEK, FAFE (PT)
14 SEP 2025 - M.A.R. Mostra de Artes de Rua, SINES (PT)
3 DEC 2025 - FESTIVAL OXALÁ, FÈS (MARROCOS)
4 DEC 2025 - FESTIVAL OXALÁ, CASABLANCA (MARROCOS)
14 MAR 2026 - TEATRO RIBEIRO CONCEIÇÃO, LAMEGO (PT)
21 MAR 2026 - GRETUA, AVEIRO (PT)
20 JUN 2026 - TEATRO STEPHENS (PT)
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 Malojo
Support: 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.
apneia
“It was just a dream”.
Normality returns quickly and sanity does not remain at risk, just turn to the other side and snuggle back into its own soft and confortable conceptions. “Where have I been all this time? How many layers is there in a dream? Is life just one of those layers? What is death, then, but an awakening?”
Why ask yourself these questions? The alarm in the morning faithfully reminds me to forget. But I don’t forget, not always. And the only way out is to repeat: “it was just a dream”.
It’s never just a dream.
PREMIERE:11 & 12 NOV 2022 - TEATRO MUNICIPAL DO PORTOTOUR:26 NOV 2022 - FESTIVAL A CASA É SUA, ÁGUEDA
18 MAY 2023 - CINETEATRO ALBA, ALBERGARIA-A-VELHA
10 FEB 2024 - CASA DAS ARTES DE FAMALICÃO
17 MAY 2024 - CINETEATRO RAIANO, IDANHA-A-NOVA
10 0CT 2024 - TEATRO AVEIRENSE, AVEIRO
20 OCT 2024 - TEATRO DE MACEDO DE CAVALEIROS
29 NOV 2024 - TEATRO RIBEIRO CONCEIÇÃO, LAMEGO
15 SET 2026 - CINE TEATRO GOUVEIA, GOUVEIA
Concept 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 Martins
Thanks to: Amélia Sousa, Domingos Ferreira, Gracinda Teixeira, Hadrien Haie, Maria Inês Neves, Pedro Couto, Tatiana Neves and Joseph ViatteCoproduction: 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
Sinto Muito
Sinto Muito is a sentimental exhibition that intends to question, both as a creator and as a spectator, the interference of the words "virtuosity", "emotion", "beauty" and "comfort" in a creation process and in its final product. How desirable are they, how immediate, how conscious to the creator and how sought after by the outside eye, how supported by institutions, how quicky categorized. In a matire contrast, it travels to the deep love of the declaration and also to the deep regret of eternal absence.
PREMIERE:5 and 6 NOV 2021 - ARMAZÉM 22, VILA NOVA DE GAIA (PT)TOUR:16 SET 2022 - Festival Moskarium, SINTRA (PT)
30 SET 2022 -* Giro Dance Festival, AZORES (PT)
4 JUL 2023 - Deltebre Dansa, DELTEBRE (CATALUNYA)
25 NOV 2023 - Festival Internacional de Solos, P. DE VARZIM (PT)
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.
Inercia
It is not clear when, but everything borns. Everything dies too. Everything crosses existence and leaves its mark, creates its gravity, alters its surroundings. The greater the mass, the greater the attraction. The greater the passion, the greater the fall. The more you feel, the more you identify. The greater the ignorance, the greater the judgment. The bigger the love, the bigger it is the possibility.It takes a lot of love for a planet to orbit a star.
PREMIERE:17 and 18 SET 2021 - FESTIVAL SÚBITO (ARMAZÉM 22), VILA NOVA DE GAIA
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
if only this was about food
If only this was about food is a work of social confession about inherent desires, focusing on their relationship to compulsion. The whole process asserts itself as a spontaneous experience that resembles the uncontrollable side of desire itself. It’s all about food, eating, consuming and compromising but also about everything else not mentioned. It seeks its own induction by the public, presenting the work in limbo between conscience and the desire for ingenuity.
PREMIERE:9, 10 and 11 APR 2021 - TEATRO MUNICIPAL DO PORTO (PT)TOUR:24 FEB 2024 - AWA FESTIVAL / KINNEKSBOND (LUXEMBURG)
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
Page under Construction
Contact
Phone: +351 913 382 498 / +351 919 759 700Email: [email protected]