The artistic director of the Teatro Viriato, Henrique Amoedo, has asked to be removed from his post, the cultural institution from Viseu announced on Friday. The Brazilian choreographer and teacher based in Portugal had only been in the post for two years and left at the end of August.
Henrique Amoedo explains to the Observer that it is an “intense dedication” simultaneously to the artistic direction of the Teatro Viriato and to the direction of the company Dançado com a Diferença, which he continued to direct even after taking up positions at the cultural institution in Viseu, that was the basis of the decision. “It was very difficult to reconcile. That is what motivates me to leave. This intensive dedication to both jobs”he explains. “I know how hard it is for me to leave the theatre.”
In a statement sent to the editorial staff, the Centro de Artes do Espetáculo de Viseu, Associação Cultural e Pedagógico (CAEV), responsible for the management and programming of the Teatro Viriato, had cited “personal and family reasons” of the teacher and choreographer for the request to cease his duties. “The management accepted the request with understanding and recognition for the reasons indicated. […] and highlights, in these two years of artistic direction by Henrique Amoedo, the careful, consistent and challenging programming, as well as his effective leadership of the professional structure of the Viriato Theater,” the text highlighted.
CAEV recalls that Henrique Amoedo took office “in a challenging post-pandemic context, in which the need to recover audiences and normalize work processes in concert halls prevailed”. The document, signed by the president of the CAEV board of directors, Júlia Alves, also reports that Henrique Amoedo leaves the artistic programming of the Viriato Theater “defined until the end of 2024 and some projects already scheduled” for 2025.
Henrique Amoedo took over as director of the Teatro Viriato in May 2022. “They were two fantastic years and, at the same time, difficult. oh [Teatro] Viriato is a huge machine, with a structure equal to its weight. It was fantastic to be able to manage the Theatre and recover what the Theatre had lost during the pandemic,” says the choreographer to Observador, who will now dedicate himself exclusively to Dançado com a Diferença, founded in 2001, in Madeira, and which since 2014 has maintained a relationship of complicity with the Viriato Theatre. The dance company includes artists with and without disabilities.
The relationship between the structures was made official in 2017, when the company was taken over as a Resident Project at the Viriato Theatre. Questioned by the Observer, Amoedo admits that he hopes that the company’s relationship with the cultural institution will remain the same. “By direction of the CAEV [que gere o teatro]yes, I understand the importance for the Teatro Viriato and for the area. But obviously everything depends on whether the new artistic direction wants to continue with the work,” he recalls. “But I think anyone who manages it will understand the importance of the project”ends.
In a note sent to the Lusa agency, the CAEV management states that it has “already initiated the procedures for the selection of the new artistic direction” and hopes “soon to be able to inform about the selection method, the criteria and the desired profile.”
CAEV also recalls that 2024 was the year of the 25th anniversary of the Teatro Viriato and, now, “a reflection on the future and the next 25 years” follows.
Amoedo’s predecessor, Patrícia Portela, had not completed two years as artistic director of the Teatro Viriato. She joined in March 2020 and her departure was announced in February 2022. At the time, no reason was given for the brevity of her stay, but the artist ended up telling the newspaper Público that she was “invited to leave.” When asked for clarification, CAEV declined to comment on the case, but in an email seen by the newspaper it was stated that “the atmosphere between “internal collaborators” and the artistic director “had been progressively deteriorating.”
Source: Observadora
