Feijoada

Brazilian choreographer Calixto Neto invites us to witness the preparation of a feijoada, the symbolic yet controversial dish of Brazilian gastronomy. A roda de samba sets the rhythm of the evening. Songs, dance, and personal as well as political stories intertwine with the cooking process and the ingredients of the feijoada. What are the cheapest cuts of meat on the market? Which bodies are most affected by the inequalities shaped by Brazil’s place in the global order? Colonial heritage is questioned and transformed into a celebration of music, dance, text, and food. In the end, everyone shares the feijoada together.

Led by Calixto Neto

Calixto Neto is originally from Recife, Brazil, but has been based in France since 2013. He studied theatre at the Federal University of Pernambuco and trained in dance with his hometown’s Experimental Dance Group before enrolling on the master's programme in choreographic studies, ex.e.r.ce, at the Centre chorégraphique national Montpellier Occitanie (CCN Occitanie). During his studies, he created the solo Petites explosions and the duet Pipoca with Bruno Freire.

His second solo, oh!rage, brings visibility to minority bodies and identities, focusing on “peripheral” dances that exist outside institutional circuits. From 2007 to 2013, Calixto was a member of Lia Rodrigues’s company; he has also performed in works by Anne Collod, Mette Ingvartsen, Éve Magot (formerly Kevin Jean) and Luiz de Abreu. In 2020, he revived De Abreu’s iconic piece O Samba do Crioulo Doido at the Panorama Festival at CN D.

That same year, he directed two films: O Samba do Crioulo Doido: règle et compas, documenting the transmission of the piece in Brazil, and Pro Futuro Quilombo, as part of the project Brésil Séquestré. In 2021, he created Outrar at the invitation of Lia Rodrigues for the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, followed by Feijoada, presented during Rodrigues’s featured programme at the Festival d’Automne in Paris.

In 2022, Calixto was invited to take part in the Kunstenfestivaldesarts Free School and began researching the composer Julius Eastman. His latest work, IL FAUX, premiered in May 2023 at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels.