Resumo:
The thesis "danced" here presents a sewing of memories about the play of Boi de Reis
throughout my very history. In this narrative, I play with the passage of my time as a boy
until I reach my pedagogical-performative wanderings as a player in the popular scene.
The weaving of this text intends to meet the need to recognize the play of the Boi de Reis,
which has been going on for more than one hundred years in the city of Vera Cruz/RN, as a
way of knowing through the body of my people and of so many others who make this play.
In particular, I focus on the whole play and dedicate myself to the perception of Catirina's
body – the only female presence in the ludic play of the Boi. With her, I seek to study the
poetic construction and the cultural and educational knowledge immersed in the context
of this Bois’ dance. The self-referential investigative research addresses poetic-political,
sensory-social, and imagetic-cultural issues that cross my path in the materialization of
the character Catirina in her different versions during the creative process. With this, I
intend to bring into debate some propositions about the universe of play, understanding it
as a cultural representation of a given social group, a given place, a given people. Those
who guide this text are MACHADO (2017), with Danças no Jogo da Construção Poética,
OLIVEIRA (2021), with Filosofia da Ancestralidade, RUFINO (2016), with Pedagogia das
Encruzilhadas, SANTOS (2002), making the cross with Corpo e Ancestralidade. I evoke
GLISSANT (2021) to dance with me and his Poética da Relação, and MARTINS (2021) in
Performances do tempo espiralar. I share the contributions of AMOROSO (2009) whose
miudinho made me spin. SANTOS (2020) drummed in this "danced" thesis, tuning me to
the Poetics of Relationships. The great Master Tião Carvalho, a brincante of the Boi and
my godfather in the play, illuminated my steps in the scene and in the ways of playing.
The construction of this weaving recovers my ancestrality, for with it I play and access the
ancestral divinities of the "Serestar Catirinas," an artistic work that is the outcome of this
doctoral research.
