Performers from Angola, Brazil and Mozambique bring poetry by Noémia de Sousa to the stage

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Performers from Angola, Brazil and Mozambique bring poetry by Noémia de Sousa to the stage

7:00 CAT | 10 Jun 2025

Image: Companhia Joao Garcia Miguel

The poem “Sangue Negro” (Black Blood), by Mozambican poet Noémia de Sousa has given rise to a show in Lisbon that brings together performers from Angola, Brazil and Mozambique to perform poetry, dance and song.

” Sangue de Todas as Cores – África em nós” [Blood of All Colours – Africa Within Us) is the title of the multidisciplinary show by Companhia João Garcia Miguel, which will take to the stage at Espaço Damas on Tuesday.

The author of the text and artistic director, João Garcia Miguel, told Lusa news agency that he came across part of this poem during one of his visits to Mozambique, which led him to want to get to know the work of Noémia de Sousa.

The poem was combined with his desire to “work on something that has to do with performers, African bodies, the relationship with Africa” and the relationship with “bodies, performers, the African actor, the African dancer, African performative expression”.

For the stage, João Garcia Miguel brought the nonconformity that Noémia presents in her poetry, relating to travel, slavery, the slave trade, and the relationship between Africa and Brazil.

“We linked this idea very much to Brazil, this idea of black blood that also travelled all over the world and created, in essence, a culture with various forms of expression,” he added.

“The audience will experience a show that is a kind of popular assembly, very close to the audience, very intimate, which calls upon the idea of public space, of gathering, of expression of fraternity and solidarity, which leads people to confront this idea between what each person is with their life dream and the idea that the life dream is only possible if we also nurture something that is collective.

“The poems are used because, deep down, we have created, just like Noémia, a dream of utopia, of the birth of a new, renewed democracy, which speaks about this blood of all colours, which speaks about this world that, in some way, we all dream and imagine.”

The cast bringing Noémia de Sousa’s ‘Sangue Negro’ to life includes Edmundo Sardinha, José Trassi, Leo Emílio, Mai Júli Machado, Preta Ferreira and Ramadane Matusse.

Source: Lusa