Biography
Joclécio Azevedo was born in Brazil in 1969. He lives and works in Oporto since 1990. He had Theatre and Dance training at Balleteatro School in Oporto (1990-93). After working as a performer with several stage directors, choreographers and contemporary artists he started to devellop and to present his own creative work. Some of his latest experiences as a performer are creations made by André Guedes, Simone Forti, Gary Stevens, Ronit Ziv, Jean-Marc Heim, Peter Bebjak/Juraj Korec and Tino Seghal. From 1997 to 1999 he has directed and programmed “Perspectivas”, a Dance and Theatre Festival in Vila do Conde, Portugal. In 1999 he took part in two “dance constructions” by Simone Forti (The Huddle” and “Slant Board”) which were performed as part of the complementary program supporting the exhibition entitled Circa/68 at Serralves Museum. In 2001 he presented his work at “Repérage – Reencontres Internationales de la Jeune Chorégraphie” in Lille, and he took part in the Repérages’s choreographic residence in Tunisia. He was one of the six choreographers invited by Porto 2001 – European Capital of Culture to be co-creator and performer in a collaboration project. Since then he's been presenting his work in festivals, choreographic residences and platforms such as "Mudanças 2002 - Platform of Portuguese Contemporary Dance" in Oporto, Festival Portugal at Treffpunkt Rotebuhlplatzin Stuttgart - 2002, AEROWAVES at "The Place" in London – 2003, CAPITALS (Acarte meetings/Gulbenkian Foundation- 2003) in Lisbon and Festival de La Bâtie in Genéve - 2004. Following his interest in research projects he’s been participating in choreographic residences such as MUGATXOAN (Arteleku/San Sebastián and Fundação de Serralves/Oporto - 2002) and Colina 2003 (O espaço do tempo – Montemor-o-Novo). He had several collaborations with Swiss choreographer Jean-Marc Heim working as a performer in the piece “Va et Vient” (Prize of the Swiss critic of dance and choreography in 2004), as a performer and dramatist in “Creatura” (2005) and as a dramatist in "Flagrant Delhi" (2008). In 2004 he also staged a new work with students from Laban Centre in London as part of Moviment04, a Festival of Portuguese choreography produced by The Hub/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. "In Spite of the Evidence" (2003), “Shutter/Notes on a photography project” (installation 2004), “The Melted Mirror” (2004), “In a Short way” (2004), “Collision Strategies” (2006), “Untitled” (2006), “Inventory” (2006/7), "Open Scores" (2009) and "A commissioned piece" (2009) are some of his latest creations. He was one of the founders of NEC – Nucleus for Choreographic Experimentation in Oporto, assuming its artistic direction from January 2006.