NIKÉ

director: Duda Paiva
perfomer/dancer: Ilija Surla
producer: DudaPaiva Company
co-producer: MAAS Rotterdam
supported by: Prince Bernard Culture Fund, Performing Arts Fund NL

Nike a meeting between a goddess and a human

In Greek mythology Nike is the goddess of sports and victory. This winged beauty descends into the human realm to award men with glory and fame. This dance duet is telling the story what would happen when a man meets the one who can teach him the paths of triumph.

DudaPaiva Company creates physical and visual performances at the crossroads of dance, puppetry and multimedia. With his dance partners, carved from flexible foam, Duda Paiva creates unique, elusive, magical, sometimes painful worlds, always touched by a sense of humour.

The Brazilian Duda Paiva came to the Netherlands as a dancer in 1996 and worked with such companies and choreographers as RAZ, Rogie & Company, Itzik Galili, Paul Selwyn Norton and Ron Bunzl. He soon displayed an affection and talent for objects and puppetry and decided to combine these forms in his own work.

Duda Paiva’s art is centered on the intensity of the isolated puppeteer on stage. Paiva developed a dance technique through which a lifeless foam rubber object can transform into a fully-fledged dance partner, and creates a magical reality that touches audiences all over the world with the extraordinary objects that he cuts himself.

“Even when I was a dancer, I was always trying to get in contact with the audience, to find a click with them. I’ve worked with all sorts of choreographers, and I’ve always tried to tear down the ‘fourth wall’ between the performer and the audience. Objects in my shows come to life through the audience’s imagination. That gives me precisely the sort of intimacy with the audience I was looking for as a dancer.”