Audio Transcribed

Hello, I’m Letícia Scalise, and I’d like to share a bit about the process behind my dance solo, Do You Still Want to Fight With Me? I began developing this piece in the first half of 2024 at the Centro de Referência da Dança and had the opportunity to present an open rehearsal in July 2024 at Teatro Centro da Terra. 

This work is inspired by a short story I wrote during the pandemic. It tells the story of a woman who sets out in search of the unknown. Along the way, she encounters a bird, and from this relationship, the journey unfolds. On stage, I explore the bird in various ways, creating a poetic and evolving path for the dance. The piece also incorporates a body influenced by martial arts practice. However, this is not a work about martial arts—it is about a woman, alone on stage, engaging with birds or whatever they may represent, facing herself, and navigating a journey of self-recognition, as many times as necessary. 

Beyond the dance solo, the story is also being adapted into a graphic novel, which is already in production. So, it’s a short story, a dance solo, and a comic book—and I think that’s it! 

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Bio:

Letícia Scalise is a dance artist, educator, and martial arts practitioner. She is interested in the intersection between contemporary dance and Kung Fu, relating the physical preparation and philosophy of the martial artist with scenic research in the realm of contemporary dance. 

She began her artistic investigations in 2018, developing her first independent work, the dance solo Você ainda que lutar comigo? (2024), inspired by the homonymous short story she wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

She started her studies in contemporary dance in 2006 at the Escola Livre de Dança de Santo André and began practicing Kung Fu in 2011, being awarded the Bolsa-Atleta Program from the Government of the State of São Paulo from 2013-2017. 

Dancer, creator-performer, cultural producer, art-educator, and physical trainer, Letícia holds a degree in Physical Education and specializes in the Pilates method. She currently works as a Pilates instructor, Kung Fu instructor, and independent artist.