Diana Niepce

Diana Niepce (1985, Lisbon) is a Portuguese artist who investigates language and hybridism as a political action. It seeks to reformulate the identity of the performative body through its mutation, intimacy and experimentalism outside the norm.

Biography

Dancer, choreographer and writer, graduated from the School of Dance (ESD) and Erasmus at Helsinki Theater academy (Teak). She completed her studies with a Performing Arts Management and Production Course, at Forum Dança, Hatha-yoga teacher course and Master in Art and Communication at New university of lisbon (UNL). Creator of the pieces “Raw a Nude” (2019) with Mariana Tengner Barros, “12 979 Days” (2019), “Duet” (2020), “T4” (2020) and “Anda, Diana” (2021). As a contemporary dancer and performer, she collaborated with Bail-Moderne with Company Rosas , Felix Ruckert, Willi Dorner, António Tagliarini, Daria Deflorian, La fura del baus, May Joseph, Sofia Varino, Miira Sippola, Jérome Bel, Ana Borralho and João Galante, Ana Rita Barata and Pedro Sena Nunes, Mariana Tengner Barros, Rui Catalão, Rafael Alvarez, Adam Benjamin, Diana de Sousa and Justyna Wielgus.
Published an article in the book “Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in Lisbon” (ed. Egeac / INCM), the children’s short story “Bayadére” (ed. CNB), the poem “2014” in the magazine Flanzine, the article “Experimentar o corpo” in the performing arts journal Coreia, and the book “Anda, Diana” (ed. Sistema Solar). Jury of the 2018 Acesso Cultura prize, official Jury of the International screen-dance festival Inshadow 2018 and Jury of the application NCED – Eu solidarity 2021.

Duet

Duration: 25min

Description: Dance performance that adjust in site specifics and propose a reduce number of audience

Extra information: Concept: In this state of fragility, the body searches for itself, in the body of the other. It feels because it is touched, because it is looked at. And so, the body exists.
The body exposes the skin and tears it to the inside. Does the body let itself in... weaken itself or does it become stronger?
The delicate bodies, which breathe in each other and draw themselves on each other, to the pleasure that lies in fragility...

"I don't know what to say. Because every time I open my mouth it's like I'm undressing in front of you for the first time. Like when the mask falls off and your body confesses next to mine. I think about anatomy, like I'm falling, reconstructing the broken pieces of my body, with the exception of love.
You dance like a snake changing its skin, like a storm in its brain, my hand looks for you, you give me your hand, you walk, we let out the child in us and then kill them. There's nothing here. I look for myself in you, because the body is only in the eyes of the other and will never recover from the pain."

It is a dance performance in which the exposure of the not normalised body, as a parallel of many prejudices that are inside each one of us, create a raw and beautiful language at the same time.
The strangeness, the bizarre spectacle that hides the inefficiency of politic identity. We, the others, ableism, normativity and society. How to perpetuate a change in ourselves and in others.

People on road: 2, plus 1 access assistant

Freight: necessary

Freight details: 1 suitcase

Anda, Diana

Duration: 55min

Description: Anda, Diana portrays the recovery process of dancer and acrobat Diana Niepce, who was rendered quadriplegic following an accident. In this piece, Diana proposes a demystification of societies’ preconceptions concerning bodies that diverge from the perceived norm and, thus, contributes towards a shift in the way we see ourselves and each other.

People on road: 7

Freight: necessary

Freight details: it depends of the Theater conditions

Pos Shows discussions

Facilitated by a local artist/producer. Duration 30 minutes.

Workshops

The workshops are based in the theme presented and performed. Participants will travel through the journey that the performers had in their research. Participants will develop their critical thinking through the moments of sharing and discuss during the workshop.

Participants: for people with or without disabilities, professional dancers.

Duration: 2 - 3 hours

Space required: warm and accessible to wheelchairs, preference with linoleum with soundsystem.

Number of participants: Maximum 20 people.

Artists Talk

What does is mean consciousness? Will? To compete? To go beyond the limits? What do you mean? What do we mean by saying “it’s not possible”, or “we can do it”? How can we teach a body to do something that it has already learned, and yet failed? This is the moment of sharing the process of recovery of the dancer and acrobat Diana Bastos Niepce, following an accident that left her quadriplegic.

Participants: General audience

Age: +12

Duration: 30 minutes

Space required: wheelchair accessible

Equipment: Data projector, screen or wall.