Through Sesc Digital Platform, the Biennial presents a showcase of works and performances that recall the choreographer and dancer who died in April 2021, aged 66, victim of Covid-19. Audiovisual records of performances conceived and performed by Ismael Ivo, as well as the recently released documentary about the artist’s life and work are part of the collection.
Black and son of a housekeeper, Ismael Ivo, contrary to social indicators, left the outskirts of the city of São Paulo to become an established and recognized figure in Brazil and the world. Brazilians Ruth Rachou, Renée Gumiel, Klauss Vianna, Dulce Aquino, and Marcia Haydée, and Alvin Ailey from the USA are some of the names who Ismael shared pedagogical and professional experiences with. He created and directed the ImpulzTanz Festival, in Vienna, was the director of the German National Theater, in Weimar, director of the Venice Biennale, and creator of L’Arsenalle della Danza.
The Ismael Ivo Collection starts with the presentation of a special section of the Contemporary Dance series collection, produced and exhibited by SescTV since 2007. The scheduled shows include: Mapplethorpe (2007), a tribute to American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe; Babilônia:: Il Terzo Paradiso (2012), with dancers from 25 nationalities; Erêndira (2014), which is part of Biblioteca do Corpo (Body Library) project; and Logos Diálogos – Part 3(2014), with direction and musical interpretation by cellist Dimos Goudaroulis and choreography and interpretation by Ismael Ivo. All works were directed by Antonio Carlos Rebesco and include, in addition to edited versions of the performances, exclusive interviews with the artists.
The SescTV Collection also features the video artwork Me Empresta Teus Olhos (Lend Me Your Eyes) – Ismael Ivo (2014), directed by André Guerreiro Lopes.
The novelty of the show is the recently released Ismael Vivo. Produced in 2021 by TV Cultura and directed by Alberto Pereira Jr., the documentary brings together more than 30 testimonies and a collection of records from many stages of the artist’s career, including rare images from the station’s own collection. The narrative is narrated by the young actress and singer from Rio de Janeiro, Merícia Cassiano.
SYNOPSES
Ismael Vivo (2021)
Direction: Alberto Pereira Jr.
The documentary Ismael Vivo reveals who the human behind the artist was, his political side, and how the transformative power of art can inspire people. “Ismael Ivo is an icon of world dance. Due to his talent and tireless work, he has established himself on major international stages. Black and from the outskirts, he exceeded social statistics, showing the transforming power of art. He created and supported numerous social inclusion initiatives through art. Ismael’s story serves as inspiration for many young people, it validates that it is possible to believe in dreams,” says director Alberto Pereira Jr.
Mapplethorpe (2007, 57’34’’, 14 years old)
TV Direction: Antonio Carlos Rebesco
Then living in Germany, Ismael Ivo presents the solo show created as a tribute to the controversial American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), who portrays, in an erotic way, the bodies of black men opposing the morality and racial intolerance of the American society of the time. Divided into three parts, Prisão, Flores e Mortalidade (Prison, Flowers, and Mortality), the choreography highlights taboos through photography and dance.
Babilonia: Il Terzo Paradiso(2011, 52’, 12 years old)
TV Direction: Antonio Carlos Rebesco
The show involves 25 dancers of different nationalities from L’Arsenale della Danza, of the Venice Biennale, and is the last work of an artistic trilogy that brings to the stage environmental issues and our own survival capacity. “That is the idea of Babilonia: Il Terzo Paradiso: people from different cultures and different bodies trying to find a new way to express themselves. Babilonia is a bit of this open picture of fantasy, of an attempt of dance as a mirror of society – as a document of an individual today in society, who makes art his or her vehicle of expression,” explains the choreographer.
Biblioteca del Corpo (2012, 58’, 16 years old)
TV Direction: Antonio Carlos Rebesco
The choreography inspired by the short story A Biblioteca de Babel (The Library of Babel), by Argentine Jorge Luis Borges, presents the conception of bodies as books that contain different information and are part of a kind of “human encyclopedia”, with diverse information and identities in them. Ismael Ivo conceived the work and directed dancers from L’Arsenale della Danza, at the Venice Biennale, a kind of master’s degree in dance for young artists, providing a deep corporal knowledge and maturing of its dancers. Marcel Kaskeline’s scenography provides a setup reminding the atmosphere of a huge library, in which bodies boxed into small compartments eventually break through the compartments and begin the journey to exchange information.
Erêndira (2014, 55’, 16 years old)
TV Direction: Antonio Carlos Rebesco
An embryonic choreography of Biblioteca do Corpo (Body Library) project, directed by Ismael Ivo and inspired by the novel The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother, by Colombian Gabriel García Márquez. Premiered in Vienna at the ImPulsTanz Festival, the performance brings up issues related to child prostitution, present in the literary work, in which the girl Cândida Erendira’s grandmother decides to prostitute her in exchange for money and food, destroying the child’s dream of becoming a ballerina. It also dialogues with the magical realism present in the author’s work and in this imaginary that populates all of South America. With guest actress Cleide Queiroz and guest dancers Stefano Roveda and Valentina Schisa.
Logos Diálogos – Part 3 – Ismael Ivo and Cia Anacã (2014, 56’ e 26’ – the program consists of two performances –, ALL AGES)
TV Direction: Antonio Carlos Rebesco
Both performances dialogue with Suites V and VI by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by cellist Dimos Goudaroulis and choreographed by Ismael Ivo and Deborah Colker. On stage, the cellist is accompanied by Ismael Ivo and Cia Anacã. The word “dialogue” was added to the title to signify many types of interactions: the dialogue between music and dance, between an instrumentalist dedicated to the work of Bach and choreographers who are respected creators, between ancient and contemporary artistic languages, between sound and movement, music, dance, scenery, and lighting. Conceived by Luiz Felipe D’Àvila and Ana Diniz, the design and artistic direction of the works are by Goudaroulis, who has studied Bach’s six suites over 25 years.
Me Empresta Teus Olhos – Ismael Ivo (Lend me your eyes) (2014, 1’44”)
Direction: André Guerreiro Lopes
Video artwork recorded with Ismael Ivo during the Mirada edition – Santos Performing Arts Ibero-American Festival, in 2014, at Audiovisual Laboratory action carried out by SescTV in the context of the project Imersão Olho-Urubu: Olhos de Espelho (Mirror Eyes).
The Rite of Spring (2018)
In The Rite of Spring, beauty is introduced with a gentle shower of rose petals. However, it subsequently gives way to a storm of petals, in an incessant and uncontrollable delirium. A metaphor and a form of alarm about the unbalanced environmental conditions. The choreography moves towards a collective ritual in which each member becomes a vehicle that expresses contemporary conflicts, desires, aspirations, sensuality, and gender. The body trying to awaken its primal instincts. A mysterious ritual that searches for beauty, desires, sensuality, and human aspirations.