Mimesis: Bridging architecture and dance to “fit into the city”

Fitting into the city as one fits into the body is the theme of an artistic residency concluding with a public performance on 14 May at 6pm in Largo do Romal. This project revisits an initiative launched last year when the association 'Há Baixa' collaborated with the Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) to hold a wood self-construction workshop called 'Paisagens Acessíveis' (Accessible Landscapes). The four structures created during the workshop remain installed across the city. This new phase, titled 'Thinking Architecture with the Whole Body', extends the reflection on space through motion.

The residency explores the intersection between architecture and dance, led by choreographers Alice Duarte and Beatriz Marques Dias, drawing on the concept of “sensory architecture” developed by Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa. “Dance is the body’s way of communicating,” says Duarte, who describes the project as a way of connecting the body—“a home for the senses”—with architecture, a discipline that goes far beyond construction. The initiative invites participants to rethink urban space through physical presence and interaction, raising the question of how we experience movement and space when dance and architecture intertwine.

The performance will follow a route through the four sites where the original Accessible Landscapes installations are located: Colégio das Artes, Rua da Matemática, Jardim da Canforeira and Largo do Romal. Open to all, the event invites the public to engage with the work and even to participate directly. “It’s a space for experimentation,” says Duarte, “a web in motion.”

Find out more about the 6th edition of the University of Coimbra’s Mimesis Theatre and Performance Arts Cycle here.