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Maura Baiocchi

Bruna — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:50 +0000

Founding-director of Taanteatro Companhia

Maura Baiocchi

Maura Baiocchi is a premier Brazilian dancer, choreographer, director, researcher, and eco-Artistic Visionary. She is renowned as the pioneer of Butoh dance in Brazil, the creator of the globally recognized Taanteatro (Choreographic Theater of Tensions) methodology, and the creator of the concept of Ecoperformance. Spanning over five decades, her decorated and international career bridges Eastern avant-garde performance art with Western philosophy, eco-poetics, and choreographic theater.

The founder of Taanteatro Company (*1991) and International Ecoperformance Film Festival (*2021) directed and choreographed over 80 original plays and performances, notably adapting deep philosophical and literary works based on figures like Antonin Artaud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Frida Kahlo, and Florbela Espanca.

Baiocchi taught at the University of Brasília (UnB) and ministered extensive courses, specialized workshops, and masterclasses at cultural institutions in South and North America as well as in Europe. Among her numerous academic and literary contributions are Choreographic Theater of Tensions (2020) and the first specialized book on Butoh dance written in the Portuguese language, titled Butoh Dança Veredas D’Alma (Butoh Dance Path of the Soul (1995).

Baiocchi has a master’s degree in Communication and Semiotics from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC). with the dissertation “Body and communication in process: the tension principle in the Taanteatro experience”.

Brief Trajectory

Maura Baiocchi is a Brazilian dancer, choreographer, teacher, and researcher with an international career in Germany, Argentina, Belgium, the United States, France, England, Japan, Mozambique, and Russia.

Photos

Born in Paraná in 1956, she began her dance studies (ballet, jazz, modern dance, dance-theater, Laban) in 1969 in Brasília. From 1978 onwards, she performed professionally as a dancer in works by Hugo Rodas and Regina Miranda. In the early 1980s, she premiered her first choreographies at the Cláudio Santoro National Theatre (DF), among them Bumerangue (1982), cited by Correio Braziliense as one of the 50 Performances that marked Brasília. From 1984 to 1986, before studying Butoh dance in Japan (1987) with Kazuo Ohno and Min Tanaka, Baiocchi taught dance at the University of Brasília and at Faculdade Dulcina.

In 1990, she was invited by theatre director Antunes Filho to choreograph for the Sesc Theatre Research Center (CPT). She established residence in São Paulo where she opened the Taantécnica Butoh Nucleus. In 1991, her proposal Taanteatro: A Research for the Transformation of Dance was awarded the Vitae Art Grants.

With members of his core group, Baiocchi founded the Taanteatro Company and premiered Frida Kahlo: A Woman of Stone Gives Light to the Night* (TUCA, 1991) and *Alice’s Book of the Dead* (Sesc Pompeia, 1992).

In the following decades, she created and staged more than 80 choreographies and performances, developed, refined, and documented the choreographic theater of tensions, and disseminated her work and artistic training methodology in countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Africa.

In addition to his work with the Taanteatro Company, which includes organizing shows, festivals, international collaborations, and exhibitions, Baiocchi works in film and music videos for musical composers and fashion designers. He choreographs for theatrical productions, including Os Sertões (2002-04) a Teatro Oficina produçtion directed by José Celso Martinez Correia.

As an author, she published Butoh Dança Veredas D’Alma [Butoh Dance Path of the Soul] (1995), the first book on Butoh dance in Portuguese, and wrote seven volumes on her own research, including Taanteatro: Teatro Coreográfico de Tensões (2007) and Choreographic Theater of Tensions: Forces & Forms (2020) prefaced by Hans-Thies Lehmann.

The concept-practice of ecoperformance, coined by Baiocchi in 2008 and developed in collaboration with Wolfgang Pannek, gained national and international artistic and academic recognition through the creation of performances, films, publications, forums, and, from 2021 onwards, the annual International Ecoperformance Film Festival.

The projects of Maura Baiocchi and Taanteatro Company have been supported by programs, awards, and sponsorships at the municipal, state, federal, and international levels (Funarte Klauss Vianna Dance Award, Contemporary Dance Award, APCA Award, Denilto Gomes Award, Hinoemata Performance Festival, Environmental Dance Prize).

WORKS

SOLOS
2016 ARTAUD, LE MÔMO – Theater Aliança Francesa – São Paulo – Brazil
2014 TRANS – Freud Museum of Dreams – Saint Petersburg – Russia
2009 DAN ancestral becoming – Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil – Brasília 2002 SUBMERGE – Chashama Theater – New York City/EUA
2002 Webshaman – mandala dance of the ancestral body 2000 Matter State of Potency – Instituto Goethe – São Paulo
1999 Matter 3rd form – Teatro FUNDAJ – Recife
1999 Matter 2nd form – Strasbourg/França
1999 Matter 1st form – Theater Plan B – Tokyo/Japan
1998 Matter 1st form – Goethe Institute -São Paulo
1991 Frida Kahlo – a stone woman gives birth to the night – Teatro Tuca – São Paulo
1990 Absolutes – Teatro Crowne Plaza – São Paulo
1990 Ophelia Subtraction – Teatro Crowne Plaza – São Paulo
1990 Himalaya – Teatro Crowne Plaza – São Paulo
1990 Behring Strait – Teatro Crowne Plaza – São Paulo
1990 The bride frightened at seeing life opened
1989 The day the wall fell
1988 Variation in black – National Theater of Brasília
1988 Variation in white – National Theater of Brasília
1988 Brasília Bride
1988 Isadora Duncan and the Bull, Marta Graham in the Forest, and Pina Bausch Sleeping
1988 When the butterflies get lost – transparent dances – National Theater of Brasília
1987 Spiral line – Gallery Space- Tóquio/Japão
1987 Voice phrase – Theater Seibu 200 – Tóquio/Japão
1987 Between the sword and the wall – Hinoemata Festival /Japão
1987 Three Daughters and a Water-eye: Yemoja, Oya and Oshum – Therpiscore Theater – Tokyo/Japan
1985 Outsider
1985 Spiral line – Sala Saltimbancos – Brasília
1985 Radical solitude
1985 Critical point
1985 Spiral – UnB – Brasília
1984 The Gift of the butterfly
1984 Water-eye – Cultura Inglesa – Brasília
1983 The owner of the keys
1981 Candomblé – School of Music – Brasília

GROUP WORKS
2022 APOKÁLYPSIS – National Foundation of Arts São Paulo
2017 1001 PLATEAUX – Theater Aliança Francesa (direction of choreography) – São Paulo
2017 Desert… – Reference Center of Dance of São Paulo
2017 Verbing – Reference Center of Dance of São Paulo
2016 InBetweens – São Paulo Theatre School – São Paulo
2015 cARTAUDgraphy 1: A Correspondence
2015 cARTAUDgraphy 2: Voyage to Mexico
2015 cARTAUDgraphy 3: Return of the Momo
2013 Androgyne – consecration of fire
2012 [Im]Pure Dances – Galeria Olido -São Paulo
2009 !Zaratustra! – Teatro da Caixa – Brasília
2007 Frida Kahlo – a stone woman gives birth to the night (trio) – Galeria Olido -São Paulo
2007 New presences – Galeria Olido -São Paulo
2007 The loneliest hour – urban intervention– São Paul
2006 Feifei and the origin of love – Teatro João Caetano – São Paulo
2006 Zarathustra Machine – Teatro João Caetano – São Paulo
2005 Xiphamanine – Cine-Teatro Áfr – Maputo, Mozambique
2004 Cardioconnections – Teatro Sesi – São Paulo
2004 Premonitary Performances – Galeria do Vidro – São Paulo
2004 Matter 4th State – Kuba Vegesack – Bremen/Germany
2004 Matter State of Potency– Galeria Olido -São Paulo
2001 Thus spoke Zarathustra 4th part – Funarte – São Paulo
2001 Frida Kahlo – A Stone Woman Gives Birth to the Night (duo) – Funarte – São Paulo
2000 MatterDeath – Sala de las Americas – Córdoba, Argentina
2000 Matter – State of Potency – São Paulo
1999 MatterLove – MIS – São Paulo
1999 Chants of Maldoror – Funarte – São Paulo
1997 !Arará! Stories that the bones sing – Teatro Hilton – São Paulo
1996 Artaud – where god runs with eyes of a blind woman – Teatro MASP – São Paulo
1996 I: a chips opera – New Dance Studio – São Paulo
1995 Month of Maya (urban intervention)
1994 Variation for ball, Shiva and Magdalene -Teatro Sesi – Sorocaba
1992 Alice’s book of the dead – transitional dances – Teatro SESC Pompeii – São Paulo
1993 At the foot of the mountain – Memorial da America Latina
1993 Variation for ball and Shiva
1991 Month of Maya (Mês de Maya)
1991 The square laughing – Teatro SESC Pompeii – São Paulo
1991 The terrible – urban intervention
1990 The bride frightened at seeing life opened – Teatro Vento Forte – São Paulo
1988 When the butterflies get lost – transparent dances (duo) – National Theater fo Brasilia
1986 Du-El (2nd version) – National Theater fo Brasilia
1986 Invisible connection – National Theater fo Brasilia
1986 Nostalgia tradition – National Theater fo Brasilia
1986 Connection and disconnection – - National Theater fo Brasilia
1984 Duo
1984 Cristovam my love or to create desire
1985 Du-El (1st version)
1985 Static-Extatic
1982 Boomerang – National Theater fo Brasilia
1981 Chaplinlewisniana – National Theater fo Brasilia
1981 Earth – National Theater of Brasilia

CINEMA
2021 Antonin Artaud’s The Theatre and the Plague – Feature Film – Director: Wolfgang Pannek
2014 Grammatyka – Short Film – Director: Paloma Rocha
2009 The End of the Sting – Feature Film – Director: Christian Saghaar
1998 Impressions for Clara – Short Film – Director: Joel Yamagi
1996 Vampa’s Eyes – Feature Film – Director: Walter Rogério
1991 Nayara – the Gorilla Woman – Short Film – Director: Marta Nassar

VIDEO
2023 Flesh and Earth – Director: Diogo Nazaré
2022 Maura Baiocchi Dances Luzia – Director: Wolfgang Pannek
2021 Apokálypsis – Directors: Maura Baiocchi, Wolfgang Pannek
2020 Rising Phoenix – Director: Sepideh Ahadi
2020 CO|R|PO – Director: Maura Baiocchi
2012 DAN ancestral becoming – Short film – Directed by: Maura Baiocchi

Wolfgang Pannek

Bruna — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:49 +0000

Director

Wolfgang Pannek is a German author, actor, director, and producer based in Brazil since 1992. Together with Maura Baiocchi, he directs Taanteatro Companhia and the International Ecoperformance Film Festival. Pannek has created and directed critically acclaimed dance-theater productions—including cARTAUDgraphy (2015), 1001 Plateaus (2017), and On Violence: Fanon (2025). He created and organized international projects in Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Romania, and the US, spanning the performing arts, literature, visual arts, philosophy, and cinema. He has directed audiovisual projects—such as Antonin Artaud’s The Theater and the Plague (2020), Apokalypsis (2021), and Ecoperformance Expedition (2022)—and acted in feature films and streaming series (HBO Brazil, TV Globo, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+). In partnership with Baiocchi, he has co-authored publications on taanteatro and ecoperformance. Pannek wrote the book Images of Power: The Iconoclastic Thinking of Gilles Deleuze (2021) and has published articles in international academic journals. He holds a master’s degree (in Philosophy, Literature, and Psychology) from FernUniversität Hagen in Germany.

TRAJECTORY

Germany
Born in 1964, in Germany, Pannek began his theatrical work with stagings of his own plays – Felix, the Lucky (Dinslaken, 1987), Short Commentary of a Dead Man (Bremen, 1989), Blood-Word-I (Bremen, 1991) – and poetry recitals (Der blaue Wahnsinn, 1989; Immerfremde, 1991). He served as performing arts editor for the monthly city magazine Bremer (1990 to 92), was an intern in In the Jungle of Cities, directed by Andras Fricsay (Municipal Theater Bremen, 1992), and studied theater and dance in workshops coordinated by Zygmunt Molik (Grotovski Laboratory), the Roy Hart Theater, and Kazuo Ohno. In 1992, Pannek was admitted to the Cantabile 2 theater school in Denmark, however, in the same year and on the occasion of the Butoh and Related Arts Festival 1992, he met the Brazilian choreographer Maura Baiocchi and moved to São Paulo.

Brazil (see also Taanteatro Companhia)
In 1992, Pannek joined the São Paulo based Taanteatro Companhia, founded by Baiocchi. Under her guidance, he studied the taanteatro dynamics and, in 1994, became co-director of the company. In addition to directing the production of performances, he conceived, produced, and coordinated Taanteatro Companhia projects, such as: 95 Butoh and Research Theater Festival, Artaud 100 Years (1996), The Conquest (1996/98), Matola-Brazil Cultural Exchange (2005), Hans Thies Lehmann Brasil Tour 2010, Artaud Occcupation (2016), Deleuze Occcupation (2017), Taanteatro Occcupation (2018), and Anti-Oedipus 50 Years (2022).

In the company context, Pannek performed in and directed original plays and works based on texts by authors like George Tabori, Fernando Pessoa, Isidore Ducasse, Samuel Beckett, Robert Walser, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Antonin Artaud. Among his own creations, Hamlet Machine Fisted (2011), the cARTAUDography trilogy (2015) about the life and work of Antonin Artaud and 1001 PLATEAUX (2017) based on the work Mil Plateaux by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari deserve to be highlighted.
Between 2002 and 2004, Pannek also worked as an actor and choreographer in Os Sertões, directed by José Celso Martinez Corrêa (Teatro Oficina).

In 2020, Pannek started to develop cinema projects. He directed experimental short and feature films among which Antonin Artaud’s The Theater and the Plague (2020), Apokálypsis (2021), and Ecoperformance Expedition (2022).

In addition to his theatrical activities, Pannek acted in series, soap operas, and films: fdp, directed by Adriano Civita (HBO Brasil, 2012), Além do Horizonte directed by Ricardo Waddington (Globo TV, 2013); El Presidente II: Corruption Game, created by Armando Bó and directed by Daniela Thomas (Amazon Prime, 2022); Yellow Cake, directed by Tiago Mello, in post-production, 2023); Senna, directed by Vicente Amorim (Netflix, 2024); and Capoeira, directed by Tomás Portella (Star+, 2024). Digital Cast

PUBLICATIONS
Pannek is co-author (alongside Maura Baiocchi) of the following books:

Taanteatro – teatro coreográfico de tensões. Azougue Editorial, RJ, 2007.
Taanteatro – rito de passagem . Transcultura, SP, 2011.
Taanteatro: teatro coreografico de tensiones. Editorial UNC, Córdoba, Argentina, 2011.
Taanteatro MAE Mandala de Energia Corporal. Transcultura, SP, 2013.
Taanteatro: [des]construção e esquizopresença (Org.). Transcultura, SP, 2016.
Taanteatro: forças e formas. Transcultura, SP, 2018.
Choreographic Theater of Tensions: forces & forms. Transcultura, SP, 2020.

Pannek is the author and organizer of the books
Bilder der Macht. Das ikonoklastische Denken Gilles Deleuzes. Transcultura, SP, 2021.
Ecoperformance Vol. 1,Transcultura, SP, 2021.
and the curator of the magazine issues
Deleuze in the land of palm trees (Org). International Deleuze Studies, 2014.
Agulha Culture Magazine # 202 | Taanteatro Companhia and Surrealism, 2022.
Arte da Cena (Stage Arts). Thematic Dossier: Ecoperformance and Ecopolitics of the Scene, Vol.1, Federal University of Goiá, 2023 (upcoming)
Pannek published academic articles in Brazil and Argentina.
In 2023, Pannek collaborated as a translator, interviewer and author with the publication of the book SILVESTRO (1998-2023) about the work of the Argentinian painter Candelaria Silvestro.

PERFORMING ARTS

DIRECTOR
2021 – APOKÁLYPSIS – National Foundation of Arts, São Paulo.
2020 – Chissano – Rite for Mabungulane, la minima galeria, São Paulo.*
2019 – Rites-Rivers – Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade, São Paulo.
2018 – Messages from Mozambique – National Foundation of Arts, São Paulo.*
2017 – 1001 PLATEAUS – Teatro Aliança Francesa – São Paulo*
2016 – The human face – Teatro Aliança Francesa,São Paulo.*
2015 – cARTAUDgraphy 3: Return of Momo – Viga Scenic Space,São Paulo.*
2015- cARTAUDgraphy 2: Voyage to Mexico – Viga Espaço Cênico,São Paulo*
2015 – cARTAUDgraphy 1: A Correspondence – O Lugar, São Paulo.*
2014 – 50 drawings to assassinate the magic – Cultural Workshop Oswald de Andrade, São Paulo*
2011 – Hamlet Machine Fisted – Funarte São Paulo*
2010 – Rit.U – Olido Gallery – São Paulo
2009 – !Zarathustra! (alongside Maura Baiocchi) – Teatro da Caixa DF – Brasília
2007 – Zarathustra Machine (alongside Maura Baiocchi) – Teatro João Caetano – São Paulo
2007 – New Presences (alongside Maura Baiocchi)- Galeria Olido – São Paulo
2004 – Premonitory Performances (alongside Maura Baiocchi)- Galeria Olido – São Paulo
2001 – Downfall – National Foundation of Arts – São Paulo  2001 Night Song – National Foundation of Arts – São Paulo
2001 – Walseriana 1 – National Foundation of Arts – São Paulo
2000 – Waiting for Godot – urban intervention – São Paulo
1999 – First Faust – Goethe Institute São Paulo
1999 – If your went to Frankfurt – Mario de Andrade Municipal Library
1998 – Whitman and Copperface – Goethe Institute São Paulo
1994 – CainAbel– Culture Center São Paulo*
1991 – Word-Blood-Me – Lagerhaus – Bremen/Germany*
1990 – Short Comment of a Dead Man – University of Bremen/Germany*
1987 – Felix, the Lucky – ND Heim – Dinslaken/Germany*

*conceived, written and directed by Wolfgang Pannek

ACTOR
2017 – 1001 PLATEAUX – French Alliance Theater – São Paulo
2009 – !Zarathustra! – Caixa DF Theater – Brasília
2006 – Zarathustra Machine – João Caetano Theater – São Paulo
2004 – Material 4. Aggregatzustand – KUBA Vegesack – Germany
2002/04 – Os Sertões – The Earth, The Man, The Transhuman
Directed by: José Celso Martinez Corrêa/Teatro Oficina
2002 – !Submerge! – Mercorsu International Festival – Córdoba, Argentina
2001 – Thus Spoke Zarathustra – 4th Part – Funarte SP Cultural Complex
2000 – MatterDeath – Sala de las Américas – Córdoba, Argentina
1999 – Chants of Maldoror – Funarte SP Cultural Complex
1996 – Artaud: where god runs with the eyes of a blind woman – Theater of the São Paulo Museum of Art/MASP
1993 – At the foot of the mountain – Memorial da América Latina
1991 – Word-Blood-I – Lagehaus – Bremen/Germany
1990 – Short Commentary by a Dead Man – University of Bremen/Germany
1987 – Felix, the lucky one – ND Heim – Dinslaken/Germany

FILM (selection)

WRITER & DIRECTOR
2022 – Ecoperformance Expedition*
2021 – Apokálypsis (with Maura Baiocchi)*
2022 – Antonin Artaud’s The Theatre and the Plague*
All films

Valter Felipe

Bruna — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:47 +0000

Performer

MONICA BERNARDES

Wolfgang — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:47:45 +0000

Performer

Mônica Bernardes is a Brazilian dancer, actress, and producer known for her extensive work in contemporary performance art and ecoperformance. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts from the State University of Londrina (2009) and Dance Licensure from the Federal Institute of Brasília (2013). She is an active member of Taanteatro Companhia since 2014 and executive director for the International Ecoperformance Film Festival, managing global eco-centric performance art and digital cinema. Bernardes worked as a performer in Taanteatro dance-theater productions directed and choreographed by Maura Baiocchi and Wolfgang Pannek such as 50 Drawings to Murder Magic (2014), cARTAUDgraphy (2015, 1001 Plateaus (2017), Idea (2019), Apokálypsis (2021), [Te]Ctonic Ophelia (2023), On Violence: Fanon (2025), among others. She completed notable residencies at the Reference Center of Dance São Paulo (CRDSP), showcasing works like 7directions, Marble, and Schizopresences.

Mabalane Jorge Ndlozy

Wolfgang — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:07:41 +0000

Mabalane Jorge Ndlozy is an acclaimed Mozambican dancer, choreographer, and musician, celebrated for bridging ancestral African performance art with modern global stages. Ndlozy received extensive training in folk traditions and honed his contemporary technique through international programs at Culturarte Mozambique, the Mark Theatre (South Africa), and the prestigious P.A.R.T.S. school (Belgium). He has performed with prominent Mozambican groups, including a 14-year tenure with the Matola Municipal Song and Dance Company. His international career spans countries such as South Africa, Germany, Belgium, France, Libya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Portugal, Eswatini, and Tunisia.
Since 2017, Ndlozy has resided in Brazil and been a member of Taanteatro Companhia. Under the direction of Wolfgang Pannek and Maura Baiocchi, he has participated in major company productions, such as 1001 Plateaus (2017), Messages from Mozambique (2018), Antonin Artaud’s The Theatre and the Plague (2020), Apokálypsis (2021), Chissano – Rite for Mabungulane (2021), Ecoperformance Expedition (2022), and On Violence: Fanon (2025). In 2026, Ndlozy won the 13th Denilto Gomes Award, presented by the São Paulo Dance Cooperative, in the Dance Artist and Performer category.