Resumo:
This research, entitled “Afro-Brazilian Dances: Dialogues on Memory and Identity”,
investigates the artistic, ethno-racial, and political dimensions present in Afro-diasporic dances
in the Brazilian context, taking as its point of departure the author’s own artistic trajectory. The
study is grounded in the concept of Escrevivências (EVARISTO, 2020), understanding
academic and poetic writing as a space for elaborating individual and collective experiences
deeply marked by Black memory and ancestry. The dissertation focuses on the practices of
Afro-Brazilian dances in the city of Salvador, particularly in two key training spaces: the Dance
School at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and the Dance School of the Cultural
Foundation of the State of Bahia (FUNCEB). These institutions are conceived not only as
educational environments but also as territories where knowledge circulates, and where
tradition is preserved, reinterpreted, and reinvented in dialogue with contemporary contexts.
The research articulates the categories of Body and Ancestrality (SANTOS, 2021), employing
the language of performance as an analytical tool to reflect on processes of artistic creation. The
body is approached as a site of memory, inscription, and resistance, capable of translating
historical and social experiences into singular aesthetics that reshape the field of the arts. In a
comparative perspective, the study establishes a dialogue with the dances of the Republic of
Guinea, analyzing them as central to the construction of cultural identity, as well as the role of
Les Ballets Africains in the political context of the post-independence period. This transnational
approach broadens the scope of the research, revealing how different Afro-diasporic
experiences generate corporeal repertoires that affirm identities and project futures. The study
thus understands Black dances and performances as powerful tools of self-construction and
affirmation for Black subjects in the diaspora, functioning simultaneously as spaces of memory,
resistance, and innovation. Beyond their artistic dimension, these practices embody a pedagogy
of the body, a mode of learning shaped by the relationship between body, ancestry, and
collectivity. In this sense, Afro-Brazilian dances transcend the limits of the stage and
performance, asserting themselves as a vigorous field of knowledge production, where art,
politics, identity, and ancestry intertwine in the creation of new ways of existing and resisting
in the world.
