Ana Clara Guerra Marques

Ana Clara Guerra Marques is an Angolan professional dancer.

Career

In 1970, at eight years of age, she started to learn classical dancing at the Dancing Academy of Luanda, Angola. In 1975, Angola gained independence and all the dancing teachers left the country. Thus, having completed the First Course of Dance Teachers in 1978, and despite her young age, she was designated to take charge of the sole dancing school in the country. Whether through her own activity as a professional dancer and choreographer, or through meetings, conferences and workshops she directs, she promoted and defended with perseverance the destiny of dancing as an artistic language in Angola.

In 1990, she completed the dancing high course at the Escola Superior de Dança de Lisboa in Portugal and received a special degree in pedagogy. In 1991, she set up the first professional dancing company in Angola, the Contemporary Dance Company of Angola. In 1995, she was given the IDENTITY prize by the UNAC (Union of Artists and Composers). In 2006 received the "Diploma of Honor from the Ministry of Culture" and the "National Prize for Arts" in the Dance category, for her contribution in the fields of education, artistic creation, research and culture of their country.

Pioneering contemporary dance in Angola, she introduced new ways and new concepts in dancing performances, as done in Corpusnágua, Solidão, 1 Morto e os Vivos e 5 Estátuas para Masongi, which were held in non-conventional areas, underlining her activity with well-known Angolan writers, painters and sculptors such as Manuel Rui Monteiro, Pepetela, Frederico Ningi, Jorge Gumbe, Francisco Van-Dúnem and António Ole.

Endowed with a strong spirit of observation, as well as a personal and perspicacious criticism about the world and the life, she brings her personality in her creations, thus involving a reading and an assertion of her own style, as it can be noted in some choreographic works she created and run, such as A propósito de Lueji, Mea Culpa, Imagem & Movimento or Uma Frase qualquer… and Outras (frases). Looking for a diversification of dancing languages, her creations are based on a personal research on traditional and popular dances existing in some regions of Angola, and statuary, gathering all the collected elements to create a personal and contemporary language of Angolan dancing.

She also introduces Inclusive Dance in Angola by integrating disabled and non-disabled dancers in the Contemporary Dance Company of Angola creations.

The social criticism is another option taken by the choreographer, since dancing is not a passive activity, but a powerful tool of intervention. Through Palmas, Por Favor!, Neste País…, Agora não dá! ‘Tou a Bumbar… and Os Quadros do Verso Vetusto, this choreographer takes upon herself her criticism and irreverence. As an executive of the Angolan Ministry of Education and Culture, she takes part in the conception and elaboration of academic programs, stressing the importance and the necessity of institutional dancing teaching in Angola. She still keeps on with the development of her own research and enquiry on existing and extinguishing Angolan traditional dances, for a later technical systemization. She has a Master’s degree in Artistic Performance - Dance and she is a member of the International Dance Council - CID-UNESCO.

Sources

• Outras Frases (vídeo documentary), 52’, col. / p/b, Jorge António, 2003 (C.F. www.imdb.com / search:www.fnac.pt)
• MARQUES, A. C., TAVARES, R. (2003). A Companhia de Dança Contemporânea de Angola. Lisboa: Mukixe e Caxinde Editora.
• Companhia de Dança Contemporânea de Angola
• Contemporary Dance Company of Angola