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Program Note - DOIS
Written by YU Tai-Jung International Affairs Manager & Resident Dramaturg of Formosa Circus Art
Jointly produced by a pair of Brazilian brothers, the performance is originally named “Dois” in Portuguese, meaning “two”. Born in Belo Horizonte, a big city in central southern Brazil, the brothers, elder Luis SARTORI DO VALE and younger Pedro SARTORI DO VALE, are brought up in an artist family. Their father Mario VALE is an illustrator and cartoonist, while their mother Monica SARTORI is a visual artist.
Starting the introduction with the brothers' family background does not mean the work Dois is an autobiographical work or a memoir. On the contrary, we won't see any rendering of their own story. But a little knowledge about their sibling relationship and family background may help you get a better understanding of why they choose these elements and form of performance.
Dois is the first cooperation of Luis and Pedro after their graduation from the Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque. Before this, Luis has received comprehensive art training, and the two brothers have accomplished different creative works with other circus artists and troupes. The brothers have played and grown up together; their similar but not exactly the same career developments have become the hidden agenda of Dois. Sibling love not only connotes their identity of coming from/belonging to the same entity and the way they support each other, but also implies the existence of competition among them. Luis and Pedro instantiate this cooperative-competitive relation in terms of circus arts and aesthetic expression through their body techniques, articles, and behaviors.
Other than their blood relationship, shared facial features and similar identity as circus artists, the brothers also share a common hobby: archery. On the stage of Dois, archery not only implies accuracy and control, but also constitutes the source of poetic grace, humor, and even musical touch of the performance. The bows and arrows are also signs and media for the multi-faceted sibling relationship that encompasses tacit understanding, frolicking, teasing, conflict, trust, and tension.
A noteworthy point about “Twin Brothers” is in its visual presentation. The two performers have drawn different lines in the theatrical space or on the stage floor using different media. In the creative process, the brothers looked back to their shared family time and got a new insight: Lines are the common element in their father's cartoons and illustrations as well as their mother's abstract and concrete artworks. The identity and practice of their parents have caused (direct or indirect) influences on the brothers' characters and art literacy, just like the fact that they inherit both the father's and mother's surnames. These influences are also expressed in Dois, including the visible lines that serve specific performing purposes, and invisible lines that are metaphorical of different relationships.
Luis and Pedro once said in their artist statement that they did not intend to emphasize the conventional sibling relationship of antagonistic fight or fierce competition among brothers, but rather empathy, trust, and unity. Despite that not everyone of us has a sibling, this heavily circus-based performance has actually extended an invitation to the audience, urging us to review our relationship with people close to us, to try to understand each other amid differences and similarities, and to explore the possibility of sharing and co-making a play-and-action relationship.
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