MARIA FERREIRA SILVA

BIO

From 1998 to 2006 Maria Ferreira Silva studies Classical, Modern and Portuguese Traditional Dance at the National Conservatory of Lisbon (EDCN). She moves to Brussels to study at P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) directed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Consecutively, from 2007 until 2010 the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation granted her a scholarship to support her studies at P.A.R.T.S.. She completed the Training and Research and Cycles in 2010.
Together with Veli Lehtovaara she creates the duet: Light as a Feather, Green as an Apple (2010/2012) with the support of P.A.R.T.S. and co-production of Zodiak – Center for New Dance (FIN) and Theater Malpertuis (BE).
As a dancer she has worked for Willi Dorner in Bodies in Urban spaces (2011/2012),  Daniel Linehan in Gaze is a Gap is a Ghost (2012) and for the visual artists Sarah & Charles in The Suspension of Disbelief (2013). From 2013, she begun dancing for french choreographer Maud le Pladec/ Leda with whom she collaborates regularly and with whom  she danced in Democracy (2013) and Concrete (2015) – created together with the ensemble ICTUS (BE).
In 2015 she participated in two short workshop/creations: Cri et Baise from Yves-Nöel Genod organized by Cifas and presented at Les Briggitines (BE) and Title in process by Xavier Leroy and Scarlet Yu part of the Art Biennial of Venice (IT).
Since 2014 she is developing a solo research: Polyphony where she looks into the potential of the human body to establish new connections or reestablishing existing ones as a way of developing awareness and possibilities in her movement and performance.
Currently, she is touring 3600 (2016) by Radouan Mriziga, premiered at the Art Biennal of Marrakesh (MO), Ghost notes (2016) by ICTUS/Maud le Pladec premiered at Ópera de Lille, Concrete (2015) Maud le Pladec/ICTUS. She is also participating in a movement research project lead by Anneleen Keppens. In addition to her dance career she is studying photography at the Académie des Beaux-Arts Jean- Jacques Gailliard (BE).

FRAME OF RESEARCH

POLYPHONY is the artistic research i have been developing since 2014. I like to work with the idea that an artistic research is a “creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge.”

The departure point for this project comes from the neuroscience concept of neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity. It states that the brain has the capacity to readapt. It changes its very structure with each different performed activity, creating new connections constantly. This concept becomes a clear concept when to learn a new skill. We stimulate new or “hidden” circuits in the brain that suggest an adaptation in order to learn this specific skill. This process is nothing but the natural consequence of learning.

I am interested in exploring the potential of the human body and my proposal is to work on this “new” idea of brain plasticity trough the perspective of dance.

At the moment my dance practice is divided in 3 parts:
Sound/Music, where I work on coordination and on the relation between music and dance
Vision, where I work on senses and proprioception
Brain Mapping, where I focus on memory and movement efficiency and how the information is registered in the brain.