Heroine of the Favela

Next April, Lia Rodrigues will celebrate her 69th birthday. Her dance company has existed for 35 years. Time to remember how it all began. Time to take stock. The Brazilian isn't doing this by publishing her memoirs, but by creating a piece into which she weaves the entire history of her company. And she's doing so quite literally, because for Borda, which is part of Tanz im August but has also been shown at Munich's Muffatwerk, she's emptying her historical costume collection.

"Our luggage contains all the clothes we've ever used on stage," she explains, as she begins her first lighting rehearsal at the La Libre Usine studio in Nantes, near the banks of the Loire River, immediately after thoroughly emptying her suitcases. "There are also some of my personal clothes in there," she laughs. ...