Winner of LAB Aveiro premieres

On 11 September, at 9.30 pm, Gisela Ferreira's dance show ‘nome de solteira’ (maiden name) will premiere. Its central theme is unpaid work and gender inequalities, questioning the ideal of the perfect woman, who takes care of everything and everyone without ever neglecting her appearance.

This project was the winner of the Palcos Instáveis 2ª Casa - Especial 3rd edition of the Aveiro Laboratory creation grant. The Aveiro Choreographic Creation Laboratory is a project that encourages and supports the development of young creators in the field of contemporary dance, based on an individual proposal for a creation. The third edition of LAB Aveiro took place between January and November 2024, with Gisela Ferreira's piece ‘nome de solteira’ being selected.

In ‘nome de solteira’, Gisela Ferreira continued research begun in 2020, resulting in a short dance video entitled ‘como uma mulher’ (like a woman), which won an award as part of the EUbyLakes virtual artistic residency (2020), taking first place in the ‘Equality’ category, and subsequently presented at various festivals and exhibitions, including ‘Ways of Protest’ (Elysium Gallery, Wales, 2020), ‘INVISIBLE SHADOWS’ (InShadow, virtual presentation, 2020), and Festival Visões Urbanas (Brazil, 2021).

In 2024, the creator decided to resume her research at LAB Aveiro, with the aim of developing a stage play that would rethink and deepen some ideas already evident in ‘como uma mulher’, such as quasi-confinement in a domestic workspace, overload, and the relationship with tasks and the objects associated with them.