Marlene Monteiro Freitas
NÔT
Few names are as closely linked to the future of dance as that of Marlene Monteiro Freitas. Born in 1979 in Cape Verde, she is an acclaimed choreographer known for her rigorously structured yet highly expressive works, earning much acclaim, including the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale. From 2026, she will also play a key role in shaping the artistic direction of Berlin’s Volksbühne alongside Summer Festival regular Florentina Holzinger. Freitas returns to Hamburg with her latest work, »NÔT«, continuing her ongoing relationship with the festival, which includes the captivating stage celebration »BACANTES« (2017) and the world premiere of the Kafkaesque theater grotesque »MAL - EMBRIAGUEZ DIVINA « (2020). »NÔT«— Creole for »night« —explores storytelling in the tradition of »One Thousand and One Nights.« Freitas weaves dance and live music into a nocturnal session of tales about life and death, love and war, dreams and reality – like a Goya painting, where the eerie depths of human nature emerge under the dramatic veil of darkness. After premiering at Festival d’Avignon’s legendary Cour d’honneur, a 2000-seat open-air theater, Marlene Monteiro Freitas and her team will come to Hamburg to adapt the piece for the stage and open this year’s Summer Festival.
