Concept, Artistic Direction & Light Design
André Uerba

Performers (Berlin & Lisbon)
André de Campos, Agustin de Olarte, Almudena Vernhes, Cait Fisher, Catarina Gonçalves, Daniel Matos, Daniel Pizamiglio, Diego Agulló, Emeka Ene, Fer Balsera, Forough Fami, Harald Stojan, Henrique Furtado, Isabél Zuaa, Jorge De Hoyos, Juan Felipe Amaya González, Liselotte Singer, Lyllie Rouvière, Luisa Rodriguez, Marcell Proske, Mariana Nobre Vieira, Maurícia Barreira Neves, Marc Lohr, Manoela Rangel, Michael Ludwig, Michela Filzi, Nitsan Margaliot, Pauline Payen, Ronald Berger, Silvana Ivaldi, Tiago Gandra, Xenia Koghilaki.

Music & Mantra "You are Sweet"
André Uerba

Executive Production
Short Hope

Support
Flutgraben Performances (Berlin), Self-Mistake

Special Thanks
Bernardo de Almeida, Clément Layes, Flutgraben Performances, Jasna L. Vinovrski

Video Stills
Stella Horta

Photos
Alípio Padilha

Fire Starter

I'm concerned with what I want to create in this time of tension and acceleration, so I am searching for something that is close to me, to something that makes sense to me and the ones I care for - a moment of affection. There is an urgency to develop this work now, as I feel the impulse to follow my intuition of creating a performative space of care where the audience is also involved. To create a choreographed space where spontaneous dance and caresses can co-exist and melt.

With Fire Starter the performers approach the emergence of togetherness and explore how these states manifest in our bodies and in an encounter with other people. Fire Starter is a research space where the audience can ignite their own participation, by deciding their role: if they are watching, moving or floating in both spheres. The exercises done during the performance are a trigger to allow the audience other entrance points in the experience of the performance. The performer itself, takes the place of a caretaker, a sort of tour guide that conducts the experience during the piece.

This research was first presented in the frame of Flutgraben Performances (Berlin) on the 16th of November 2019. The 2nd research phase was presented on the 9th of February and the third on the 23rd of February 2020 in the frame of "Dançar é a Minha Revolução #2" in Lisbon.

What emerges is less a "making-of" and more a meditation on process itself. The camera lingers on hands threading, cutting, knotting, measuring — on bodies warming up, touching each other, holding, sharing, burning.

In an age defined by urgency and conflict, the documentary mirrors the deceleration at the heart of the process, inviting the viewer into the same stillness that the installation itself creates.

At its core, this is a film that documents care as method: how a group builds trust, agency, and synergy long before an audience arrives. It captures the invisible architecture of collaboration — the warm-ups, the shared attention, the mutual support systems — that give the performers ground to inhabit and perform. As the foundation for Uerba's work, "Burn Time" stands as both record and manifesto: how a group comes together is inseparable from what they ultimately create.

Photos: Alípio Padilha, video stills: Stella Horta