There is a mystery in this very close relationship between dance and music. As Paul Valéry says in Degas Danse Dessin (1938):
The Universe of Dance and the Universe of Music have intimate relations felt by all but, until now, no one has yet grasped the mechanism, nor has it shown the need. Nothing is more mysterious than this simple perception to state: equality of duration, or intervals of time. How can we estimate that noises follow each other at equal intervals, to impress equally distant blows? And yet, what does this equality mean by our senses? (...).
In this piece I wanted to put the body before the enormous musical piece by J.S. Bach, Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Evangelistam Matthaeum, to understand which kind of possible relation could the body have with it.
What would happen to the body, the gestures and the movement when immersed in a musical work of such extension, with such rich textures and so variable? What dance for such a work?

Creation, Performance: Vera Sofia Mota Music: Matthäuspassion, J. S. Bach / BWV 244: Gustav Leonhardt, La Petite Bande, Tölzer Knabenchor Duration: 3h Residency/Support: RE-AL (Lisbon), Escola Superior de Dança (Lisbon), Oficinas do Convento (Montemor-O-Novo), Altes Finanzamt (Berlin) Presentations: Man Power, RE-AL (Lisbon, 2008), Altes Finanzamt (Berlin, 2011) Acknowledgments: Alaíde Costa, Carlos Quintelas, Catarina Miranda, Gonçalo Marto, Gustavo Sumpta, João Fiadeiro, José Carlos Cardoso, Sofia Campos, Catarina Miranda.

*Photos: Marta Rebollo. Presentation at Altez Finanzamt, Berlin, 2011