Consecration of the absence of a future. A kitsch posthumous praise to something that never received its due value. In memory of what once was, ‘Rite van wat Was’ places human interaction with nature in a prism of praise and fiction: an act of denial and an accidental essay on ‘greenwashing’.
If the apocalypse were the end, there would be no afterward. The term ‘post-apocalyptic’ itself is essentially a contradiction. The idea that after a climate disaster there is an ‘afterwards’ is in fact a negationist act of self-sabotage because the Earth will continue to exist without us. And so we traverse space, irreversibly, unable to keep up with the time in which we live.
‘Rite van wat Was’ is a contemporary social portrait and research that talks about the sustainability of the planet and corporate ‘greenwashing’.
Margarida Constantino is a non-conforming artist, performer and dance theater maker. Dedicated to fostering collaboration between different practices and performance vocabularies, she uses dance and spoken text as her main vehicles for storytelling. Her work is quirky, ironic and inevitably political.
Originally from Portugal, Constantino has been based in the Netherlands since 2017, where she studied at ArtEZ University of the Arts. She worked for Nicole Beutler Projects(NL) and Companhia Instável(PT). From 2021 to 2023, she was a dancer for LeineRoebana(NL). In 2023, Constantino performed for Henry Rodriguez, Carine Grizzo (PluggedLiveShows), Christina Mastori, and LeineRoebana. She also choreographed and performed for the film “Almost Like Home” by Dilan and Behzad Safari, and premiered two performances: “Sagração de quem Era” and “SELF-HELP: How to Make Babies, Have a Career and Eat Organic.”.
This year she worked as performer for The Circle of Truth: Part II and for Lea Ellemann in a residency by Ulrike Quade Company and Event Robotics. She participated in the research for ‘We Are Earth’ by Nicole Beutler in co-production with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. In 2024 she is creating work for Delft Fringe, Amsterdam Fringe and Theater a/d Rijn.