Lia Rodrigues: Borda
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2 performances
2.11-3.11.2026
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Duration
1 H 20 min (no intermission)
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Venue
Erkko Hall
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Tickets
41,50 - 22 €
Show times
2.11. at 19.30
3.11. at 19.30
Intro
Hailed as "Brazil's miraculous choreographer", Dance House Helsinki’s international guest performance series presents the works of Lia Rodrigues in Finland for the first time. Over a career spanning more than 40 years, Rodrigues has become one of Brazil’s most influential contemporary choreographers, captivating audiences around the world with socially engaged works. Her latest piece, Borda, is a timely and sensuous exploration of borders — how they are formed, how they shift, and how they constantly transform.
In Portuguese the word ‘borda’ is derived from the verb ‘bordar’, embroider, which means to enrich, to decorate, to enhance, to elaborate. It stands next to the other meaning of this word: border, fringe, boundary, verge, margin, threshold, limit, barrier, frontier. That what separates.
There are geographic and political borders, sometimes represented by walls, barbed wire, hedges, checkpoints, gates. Sometimes they suppose a hierarchy. Sometimes areas of oppositions are created: hospitality and hostility, freedom and domination, what is considered native and what is foreign, inferior and superior. It is the home of the otherness.
The work asks how can we work from a reality intertwined with visible and invisible lines, that mark the boundaries between fear and hope, between noise and quietness, flood and fire. How can we bring with us the land of our visions, desires, memories, futures? Perhaps by patiently and laboriously weaving together a porous place of fluid alterity, an embroidery where margins move, float and dance.
Nine dancers move through a landscape partially dissolved into fabrics, plastics, and recycled materials. Together they form sculptural shapes made from remnants of earlier works; fragments of stories are given new life. Rich in colour and emotional force, the performance invites us to open borders and imagine another kind of world: one where coming together triumphs over separation, acceptance over rejection, and open doors over closed ones.
Rodrigues is known for her inclusive working methods and her long-term collaboration with local communities in Brazil. Her works give space to voices that too often remain unheard. Fifteen years ago, she founded the arts centre Centro de Artes da Maré in the Maré favela of Rio de Janeiro together with a local NGO. In recognition of this work, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2024. Through her uncompromising vision, Rodrigues demonstrates that dance is more than movement: it is an act of change, a way of opening worlds, and an invitation to solidarity.
The performances are part of Dance House Helsinki’s international guest visit series, bringing some of the world’s most exciting dance companies and artists to Finland between 2024 and 2027. The series is supported by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation.
Brazil’s miraculous choreographer.”
— Financial Times
Trailer
Articles
Interview
Interview by Theatre Academy Helsinki: Lia Rodrigues
Review: Seeing Dance
Lia Rodrigues
Lia Rodrigues was born in São Paulo Brazil in 1956 and studied classical ballet and history at the University of São Paulo (USP). After having been part of the São Paulo contemporary dance movement in the 1970s, she joined Maguy Marin’s dance company in France from 1980 to 1982. Back in Brazil, she set up the Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças in 1990 in Rio de Janeiro. In 1992, she created the annual contemporary dance festival Panorama de Dança, running it until 2005. Since 2004, her company has been involved in developing educational and artistic activities in the Maré favela in Rio de Janeiro in partnership with the NGO Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré. This collaboration has established the Centro de Artes da Maré (Maré Arts Centre), which opened in 2009, and the Escola Livre de Danças da Maré (Maré Free Dance School) in October 2011. In her professional and artistic career spanning forty years, the choreographer has dedicated herself not only to artistic training and creation, but also to education in the form of workshops and seminars. Lia Rodrigues believes in the synergy between art and social processes. Her recent creations include Aquilo de que somos feitos(2000), Formas breves (2002), Encarnado (2005), Chantier poétique (2008), Pororoca(2009), Piracema (2011) and Pindorama (2013), Para que o céu nao caia (2016), Fúria(2018) and Encantado (2021). Lia Rodrigues is associate artist at the Centquatre-Paris, the Maison de la danse and the Biennale de la danse in Lyon.Lia Rodrigues
Credits
Created by Lia Rodrigues
Danced and created in collaboration with: Leonardo Nunes, Valentina Fittipaldi, Andrey da Silva, David Abreu, Raquel Alexandre, Daline Ribeiro, João Alves, Cayo Almeida, Vitor de Abreu
Creation assistant: Amalia Lima
Dramaturgy: Silvia Soter
Artistic collaboration and images: Sammi Landweer
Lighting design: Nicolas Boudier
Stage management and lighting: Magali Foubert and Baptistine Méral
Soundtrack : Miguel Bevilacqua (from excerpts of a recording made in 1938 in northern Brazil by the Folklore Research Mission conceived by writer and intellectual Mario de Andrade and excerpts from the public domain music “Amor Amor Amor”, part of the repertoire of “Cavalo Marinho”, a Brazilian dance performed by Luiz Paixão. )
Mixing and mastering: Ronaldo Gonçalves
Production/ manager: Colette de Turville
Assistant production: Astrid Toledo
Production and manager Brazil: Gabi Gonçalves/ Corpo Rastreado
Secretary/administration: Gloria Laureano
Logistical support Centro de Artes da Maré: Sendy Silva
Teachers: Amalia Lima, Leonardo Nunes, Valentina Fittipaldi, Andrey Silva
Costumes: Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças
Seamstress: Antonia Jardilino De Paiva
Acknowledgements: Thérèse Barbanel, Corpo Rastreado, Inês Assumpção, Luiz Assumpção, Diana Nassif, Centro de Artes da Maré team, Jacques Segueilla.
Dedicated to Max Nassif Earp
Ticket information
Early Bird standard ticket 34 € available until 1.8.
Standard Ticket | A 41,50 € – B 36,50 €
Pensioners | A 38,50 € - B 33,50 €
Discount Ticket | A 26 € – B 22 € Under 25, students, unemployed, those in civilian or military service
Professionals I A 26 € - B 22 €. Members of STST and SVÄV.
Please be prepared to present proof of eligibility for the discount.
PWYC | A small number of "Pay What You Can" tickets are also on sale for the performance. PWYC tickets are available at the Cable Factory's info point, and online here. Read more about Pay What You Can tickets and other ticket information.
To ensure good visibility to everyone, The Erkko Hall auditorium is steep. Please note that there is no lift to the upper section. Only the first row seats are fully accessible.
For ticket inquiries, please contact: info@tanssintalo.fi
