Francisco Camacho
Biography
Francisco Camacho studied dance at the schools of Companhia Nacional de Bailado (1982/83) and Ballet Gulbenkian (1983/4), later joining the company as an apprentice (1984/86). In New York, he attended different workshops and studied dance at the Merce Cunningham Studio and acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. He studied screenplay writing with Luís Falcão and creative writing with José Luís Peixoto. He has been studying voice with Lúcia Lemos.
He danced with several choreographers in Portugal and in New York. Namely with Paula Massano; Meg Stuart in “Disfigure Study”, performing in Europe and USA; with Alain Platel in “Bonjour Madame, comment allez-vous aujourd'Hui, il fait beau, il va sans doute pleuvoir, etc”, in Europe and Canada; and Carlota Lagido in “Lilith” and “Self”. He is still touring with “Blessed” and “All Together Now”, both directed by Meg Stuart.Since 1988, Francisco Camacho's work has been presented in several countries in Europe, America and Africa. He choreographed and performed the solos “O Rei no Exílio/The King in Exile” (1991), “Nossa Senhora das Flores/Our Lady of Flowers” (1992, Special Mention of the Award ACARTE/Maria Madalena de Azeredo Perdigão 1992/93), “Superman” (2000), “Hitch” (2003) and “coup d'état” (2006). He directed and choreographed the group pieces “Com a morte me enganas/With Death you fool me” (1994), “Primeiro Nome: Le/First Name: Le” (1994, Award ACARTE/Maria Madalena de Azeredo Perdigão 1994/95), “Dom São Sebastião” (1996), “GUST” (1997), “More” (1998), “Em Troca/In Exchange” (2001, for Companhia Nacional de Canto e Dança, of Mozambique), “My Name is Wilde… Oscar Wilde.” (2001) and “Silence so Sexy” (2002). His latest group piece is “Live/Evil – Evil/Live” co-directed with Herwig Onghena.
He presented performances in co-authorship with Mónica Lapa (“Bimarginário” 1990), Vera Mantero (“Blá;-blá;-blá;” 1990) and Carlota Lagido (“Sporting Decadence” 2000). Works for non-conventional venues include: “O Príncipe da Rua/The Street Prince” (1999) for a piece by visual artist Pedro Cabrita Reis in the Museum of Bonn, “Laughter To My Heart” (2003) for the exhibition of Francis Bacon in Museu de Serralves, “Performers Anónimos” (1999) for a main street in Lisbon, and “Danças Privadas/Private Dances” presented in different spaces in Portugal, UK and The Netherlands. The Portuguese press association Casa da Imprensa awarded him the prize Bordalo 95 and 97, as the most relevant individual in dance.
EIRA has been the production house of the choreographer Francisco Camacho since 1993, having as associated artists the choreographers Carlota Lagido, Rafael Alvarez and Sara Vaz. It also gives support and artistic consultancy to other artists.
