The Story Of Edu O.
The artist who challenges "Compulsory Bipedalism" and conventional ideas about bodies and movements.
By Portal MUD - Dance Museum
Curated by: Estela Lapponi
Photograph with Edu O.Portal MUD - Dance Museum
Edu O. is a dance, performance, and theater artist, researcher, and professor at the Dance School of UFBA.
Show "Brincante/The Silence of the Hours" (1999) by Unknown AuthorPortal MUD - Dance Museum
His first contact with dance was in 1998, through the Grupo Sobre Rodas, a specialization project by Rita Spinelli, whom he met in the classes he attended at the School of Theater of UFBA, while studying at the School of Fine Arts at the same university.
Show "The Place of Each One" (2003/2004) by Clarice CajueiroPortal MUD - Dance Museum
In 1999, he joined the Grupo X de Improvisação em Dança, an extension project of the Dance School of UFBA coordinated by Fafá Daltro and David Ianniteli. Edu officially took over the coordination of Grupo X in 2016, when he became a faculty member of the Dance School of UFBA.
Photographic Work "NO MORE ABYSSES" Photographic Work "NO MORE ABYSSES" (2021) by Edu O. e Aldren LincolnPortal MUD - Dance Museum
Edu is also known as Carlos Eduardo Oliveira do Carmo in the academic world of Dance. He holds a PhD in Knowledge Diffusion, where he developed the concept of "compulsory bipedalism" in the relationship between Dance, Disability, and Ableism.
Performative Installation "No More Abysses" Performative Installation "No More Abysses" (Março de 2024) by Alessandra NohvaisPortal MUD - Dance Museum
Based on this concept, Edu names the counterpart to the Person with Disability – the biped (the person without a disability). With compulsory bipedalism, Edu exposes the thinking about the hegemony of the body.
Show "Odete, Bring Me My Dead" (2010) by Tiago LimaPortal MUD - Dance Museum
One can only hear with the ears; one can only speak with the mouth; one can only see with the eyes; one can only walk with the legs in a coordinated rhythm; one can only think in a certain way, which means that anything that does not follow this bodily capacity cannot exist.
Photographic Work "NO MORE ABYSSES"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
Thus, the idea is reinforced that the disabled body is a deviation from the norm, and therefore must be "fixed," and if it can't be "fixed"… it becomes SOCIOPOLITICALLY and CULTURALLY KILLABLE.
Project Oh, If I Were Marilyn (2013) by Jamile CoelhoPortal MUD - Dance Museum
The artist has a catchphrase:
"You bipeds tire me out!"
Photographic Work "NO MORE ABYSSES"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
It emerged from the experience of teaching at the Dance School of UFBA, realizing how the imagination of dance, which is bipedal, is a limiting factor in the creative process and in discovering movement possibilities.
"Choreographic Project Judite Wants to Cry, But Can't!" (2007) by Fabienne FrossardPortal MUD - Dance Museum
Among his works, the following stand out: Never More Abysses, Judite Wants to Cry, But Can't!, Kilezuuummmm, Odete, Bring Me My Dead, Oh, If I Were Marilyn, and The Disturbing Body, the latter addressing the theme of sexuality related to devotion.
Show The 3 Audibles (2008 a 2010) by Alessandra NohvaisPortal MUD - Dance Museum
He is an artist and producer of the Brazil-France exchange Euphorico, a partnership between Grupo X and Cie Artmacadam, since 2004.
Show "12" (2012) by Unknown AuthorPortal MUD - Dance Museum
He has also worked with the Candoco Dance Company (London), Cie Kastor Agile (France), and choreographer Alito Alessi (USA). In 2007, this was when we met and began to discuss what we call Inclusive Dance and how we saw it as being misunderstood.
Photomontage No More AbyssesPortal MUD - Dance Museum
NO MORE ABYSSES
Among all his works, No More Abysses is the one we highlight here, along with the artist.
Teaser "Nunca Mais Abismos" (2024) by Edu O., Estela Lapponi e Jania SantosPortal MUD - Dance Museum
Artistic Residency "No More Abysses" (2023) by Aldren LincolnPortal MUD - Dance Museum
It is a performative occupation, guided by the concept of being a Relaxed Performance.
Performative Installation Never More Abysses at Sesc Pompeia Performative Installation Never More Abysses at Sesc Pompeia (Março de 2024) by Sergio FernandesPortal MUD - Dance Museum
NO MORE ABYSSES is an affirmation that aims to counter the abysses of Ancient Greece. It is a gathering of many DEF artists, strengthening themselves by building, each in their own way, and this time, protagonizing new narratives in History about the disabled body.
Performative Installation "No More Abysses"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
It celebrates the undeniable changes brought about by the presence of people with disabilities over time, breaking normative logics and promoting changes in various areas such as science, art, technology, communication, architecture, and more.
Performative Installation "No More Abysses"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
The occupation takes place over several days, with each day lasting four hours. During the performances, three moments resonate with each other, creating spaces of fluency and exchange between artists, audience, and space, understood as:
Photomontage No More AbyssesPortal MUD - Dance Museum
WE
During the first two hours, a continuous action gradually transforms the space, emphatically affirming: NO MORE ABYSSES.
Performative Installation Never More Abysses at Sesc PompeiaPortal MUD - Dance Museum
The artists, dressed in navy-blue coveralls resembling gas station attendants, endlessly write the statement on sheets of paper torn from rolls scattered throughout the space. The writings are then pasted on the walls over the course of the days.
Performative Installation Never More Abysses at Sesc PompeiaPortal MUD - Dance Museum
Edu calls the writings a "writing-net," alluding to a net that prevents falling into the abyss.
Performative Installation "No More Abysses"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
The collages also contribute to the creation of the "Tree of Bipedism," made of wheat-paste posters featuring photos of Edu, Jania, and Estela, with the phrase "You bipeds exhaust me!" overlaid in English, German, Basque, Japanese, and Dzubukuá, the language of the Tuxá people.
Performative Installation Never More Abysses at Sesc PompeiaPortal MUD - Dance Museum
In their own way, if they wish, the audience can take part in this transformation or simply share the same space, experiencing the installation for as long as they desire.
Performative Installation Never More Abysses at Sesc PompeiaPortal MUD - Dance Museum
EMERGIR
Small solos (performance, dance, clowning, poetry, and music) reveal the individualities and strategies of each artist to prevent their personal abysses.
Performative Installation "No More Abysses"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
SILENCE
A moment in which the installation itself presents its dynamics and welcomes visitors without the presence of the artists.
Performative Installation "No More Abysses"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
The performative occupation premiered in 2022 at the Festival Theaterformen in Braunschweig, Germany. In 2023, it participated in the Bienal Sesc de Dança in Campinas, and in March 2024, it had a season at the Sesc Pompeia.
Performative Installation "No More Abysses"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
It brought together eight of the leading Def artists in the contemporary Brazilian art scene: Edu O., Estela Lapponi, Jania Santos, Moira Braga, Jéssica Teixeira, Elinilson Soares, Ariadne Antico, and Quixote.
Performative Installation "No More Abysses"Portal MUD - Dance Museum
The work also features the presence of artist Thiago Cohen and Libras interpreter and performer Cintia Santos, the only non-disabled members of the cast.
Show "Kilezuuummmm" (2019) by Fernando PereiraPortal MUD - Dance Museum
Edu O. is a researcher and coordinator of the Acessa Mais Mapping, carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Culture (Minc) and UFBA. He is an artist who invites us to a deep reflection on dance as a language that celebrates the diversity of bodies and their stories.
Learn more about Edu O.'s story.
Access the artist's collection materials on the Portal MUD.
This story is part of the MOVER MEMÓRIAS project, funded by the FUNARTE RETOMADA - DANCE 2023 grant.
Curator: Estela Lapponi
General and Museological Coordination: Talita Bretas
Coordination and Research Assistant: Rúbia Galera
Archivist: Murilo Armando
Trainee: Pietra Padilha
Audiodescription Script: Fabrício Branchini Beltramini and Mari Sabino
Audiodescription Consultancy: Luciane Maria Molina Barbosa
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