Taanteatro is a dance-theater company established in 1991 in São Paulo, Brazil. Lead by its founder, the brazilian choreographer Maura Baiocchi, and the german director Wolfgang Pannek, the company is dedicated to research and creation in the performing arts. Since 2001, the company maintains its rural headquarter in São Lourenço da Serra (50km from São Paulo City).

Along its trajectory, Taanteatro created more than eighty choreographies and plays based on the life and work of artists and poets like Frida Kahlo, Florbela Espanca, Lewis Carrol, Antonin Artaud, Lautréamont, Fernando Pessoa, Robert Walser, George Tabori, Hölderlin, Beckett, Shakespeare, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, amongst others.

The company’s name – taanteatro – designates a specific practical and theoretic dynamic, the choreographic theater of tensions, created by Maura Baiocchi.

Taanteatro’s performative research is documented through an editorial project that includes the publication of the following books: Taanteatro: choreographic theater of tensions (2007); Taanteatro: rite of passage (2011); Taanteatro: MAE Body Energy Mandala (2013); Taanteatro: [Des]Construction and Schizopresence (2016); Taanteatro: Forces & Forms (2018).

Taanteatro Companhia also developes international artistic exchange projects among which the Butoh and Research Theater Festival 1995, Artaud 100 Years, The Conquest, Matola-Brazil Culture Exchange, Hans Thies Lehmann Brasil Tour 2010, Artaud Occupation (2015), Deleuze Occupation (2017), Taanteatro Occupation (2018), Antonin Artaud’s The Theater and the Plague (2020), and the 1st International Ecoperformance Festival (2021).

The press has described Taanteatro as an “important group of Brazilian artists who investigate the language of performing arts” and pointed out its following qualities: “daring and innovative”, “unique manner of developing texts and of studying physical action”, “extreme care in creation and staging”, “visual quality”, “gestural refinement”, “rigor and magnetism of the physical manifestation”, “great work of performers” and “celebration of freedom and creativity”.

Taanteatro performed in Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Mozambique, Russia, and the US.

Currently, the interdisciplinar team of the company includes artists from Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and Mozambique.

AWARDS

2021 ProAC Aldir Blanc Law São Paulo
2020 ProAC Aldir Blanc Law São Lourenço da Serra
2018 Municipal Program for Dance in São Paulo
2016 Municipal Program for Dance in São Paulo
2014 Municipal Program for Dance in São Paulo
2013 National Foundation of Dance Award Klauss Viana
2013 Dance Critics Award APCA São Paulo
2013 Denilto Gomes Dance Award
2011 Best Dance Performance 2011 – Guia da Folha de S. Paulo
2011 Municipal Program for Dance in São Paulo – Taanteatro 20 Years
2009 Municipal Program for Dance in São Paulo – DAN
2009 National Foundation of Arts Award Klauss Vianna – DAN
2008 National Foundation of Arts Award Klauss Vianna – !Zarathustra!
2006/07 Municipal Program for Dance in São Paulo
2006 National Foundation of Arts Award Klauss Vianna
2004 Contemporary Dance Award São Paulo
2004 São Paulo Critics Award Best Play “Os Sertões” by Teatro Oficina
1997 Theater Festival Sorocaba Best Costumes – Variação para Bola, Shiva e Madalena
1997 Theater Festival Sorocaba – Best Lighting – Variação para Bola, Shiva e Madalena
1991/92 Vitae Foundation Fellowship for Art – Taanteatro: A Research for the Transformation of Dance
1991 Crowne Plaza São Paulo Performance Award – Best Play – Absolutas
1998 Critics Award of the Federal District – Best Play – When the Butterflies get lost
1987 Hinoemata Peformance Festival – Best Foreign Performance – Between the Sword and the Wall