5,6,7,8 and One | DDD – Dias da Dança Festival

The dancer, also choreographer and backup dancer Marlyn Ortiz, born in 1976 – who danced in New York clubs in the 90s, in Broadway musicals and in tours and music videos of Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, The Black Eyes Peas, Taylor Swift and Usher -, is now the starting point for Martim Pedroso’s next show. The idea came up in 2017 and not even a worldwide pandemic stopped this project from coming to fruition. With closed borders, between zoom meetings, whatsapp messages and video calls, the script was being written, and each day that passed, at an ocean distance, was another day of epic doubts, hesitations, risky projections and some certainties, always towards the future and a show in the future.

5, 6, 7, 8 and One is a hybrid between docfilm and docudrama. It is known to orbit around the biography of a Puerto Rican dancer who started dancing in a backyard in the Bronx, who has been on the biggest stages and arenas on planet Earth, and who, at a certain point, crossed paths with a Portuguese director and actor on a certain terrace in downtown Lisbon. They like to look at this project as a dedication to all artists who empower other artists.

“I didn’t conquer this place alone. Getting here and now, is the result of who I am and what I have been able to achieve, as well as the result of everyone who has believed in me and protected me. It is also the result of all those who gave me nothing and rejected me. They all empowered me. They caused my internal strength, my confidence, and my expression to grow. My power is the result of my unconditional love for dance, my technique, discipline, perseverance, strength, my struggles, my sexuality, my anger, my fears and weaknesses. My movement, itself, is the result of my internal voice that has been built up by all these atoms.”