Portugal loses “an outstanding figure in the history of dance”, says Graça Fonseca about teacher Gil Mendo – Observer
The Minister of Culture, Graça F., regretted the death fair and programmer Gil 1946, figure of the dance teacher in Portugal, “a figure that marked the history of contemporary dance in Portugal”, and .
The choreologist, programmer professor in the area of dance and died on Wednesday, in Lisbon, at the age of 76, a victim of oncological disease, a source from the Escola Superior de Dança (ESD) told the Lusa agency this Thursday.
“Being discreet, attentive and observant, we owe Gil Mendo a permanent care with Portuguese dance, both in its teaching and study in the cultural profile, as well as in the programming and programming”, recalls the minister, a note of regret about an important figure in the work for the memory of dance.
At ESD, institution where he was a professor for more than twenty yearsand coreographers known to dancers, inscribing them in the pedagogical practice of our contemporary.
In 1990, he specialized in the foundation of Fórum Dança, “the center for contemporary dance and the promotion of contemporary dance”, through professional and artistic training, editing and authorship, with emphasis on Graça Fonseca.
She was part of the Installation Commission of the Portuguese Institute of the Performing Arts (IPAE), predecessor of the current Directorate-General for the Arts, and was later coordinator of its Dance Department, at a central moment in the history of cultural policies in Portugal.
In Gil Mendo’s vast professional career, his work as a dance programmer Culturgest“example of accompanying artists, both national and international”, and participation in international performing arts networksin an action “fundamental in the internationalization and defense of artistic creation in Portugal”.
“Gil Mendo was a model teacher, but also an example of generosity and a life dedicated to helping others to make dance a place of sharing. For his career, for his qualities and professionals and for his central personal role in the development of Portuguese contemporary dance, as heir and continuator of other great names of Portuguese culture, such as Margarida Abreu, Anna Mascolo and Jorge Salavisa, the history of dance in Portugal one cannot write without the name and memory of Gil Mendo being known”, compares Graça Fonseca.
Gil Mendo was one of the founding members of ESDhaving been chairman of the Technical-Scientific Council, chairman of the Board of the Assembly of Representatives and coordinator of the Degree in Dance.
Gil Mendo Valente e Branco, born in 1946 in Oeiras, studied at the Center for Ballet Studies of the Instituto de Alta Cultura and at the Benesh Institute of Choreology, in London.
Between 1983 and 1989 he was a member of the Installing Committee of the Escola Superior de Dança, where he was coordinating professor between 1986 and 2014.
Between 1990 and 1991 he was a dance consultant for the Comissariado Europália 91-Portugal and participated in the organization of Portuguese dance shows in Madrid, Glasgow and Bonn, having participated in international conferences and juries.
He worked as an expert for the Roberto Cimetta Fund for the mobility of artists and professionals from the Mediterranean, of which he was also one of the founders.
Between 1976 and 1986, he was a professor and member of several steering committees at the Escola de Dança do Conservatory.