Is one of the world’s 30 New Promises

Renowned Mozambican choreographer and dancer Panaibra Gabriel Canda was recently distinguished by the prestigious German magazine TANZ (Dance, Ballet and Performances),  in a “New Promises for the Future of Dance 2017” list of 30 international artists.Forty-one-year-old Panaibra Gabriel Canda was born in Maputo, and has enjoyed a 22-year career in music, theatre and dance since completing his training in contemporary dance with the Festival Danças na Cidade in Lisbon.In 1998, he founded CulturArte, an institution that provides support for artistic development and has developed artistic projects including creations, performances and training programmes for dance projects and local artists.

The TANZ shortlist is the result of extensive research among 42 international dance critics as well as thousands of the magazine’s readers.Speaking to KINANI, Canda said: “I feel happy and honoured to receive this distinction, which shows real growth, another place that Mozambique conquers in the world of contemporary dance. I hope it will increase my motivation and that of other national creators to continue to write well and in capital letters the contemporary history of our beautiful Mozambique.”

Among the 30 artists, dance companies and institutions named, another highlight is the Portuguese choreographer and dancer Marlena Marlene Monteiro Freitas (of Cape Verde origin), who was present at the 2016 International Week of Contemporary Art – Tridisciplinar.Among the 30 Artists, New Promises for the Future of Dance, according to TANZ magazine are: Spanish Juanjo Arqués, Het Nationale Ballet, Amsterdam; The Canadian Daina Ashbee; The Frenchman Etienne Béchard; The German (born in Romania) Adolphe Binder, new director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal, founded by Pina Bausch; The Mozambican Panaibra Gabriel Canda; The duo of choreographers based in Lyon (France) François Chaignaud, Cecilia Bengolea; Scottish Reece Clarke of the Royal Ballet of London; The new building of the John Cranko School of Ballet in Stuttgart, the Burger Rudacs studio in Munich; The Italian Gigi Cristoforetti; The Australian Jessica Fyfe; The Portuguese Marco da Silva Ferreira; The Italian collective Dewey Dell (Teodora, Demetrio, Agata Castelucci and Eugenio Resta); The Italian choreographer Mauro de Candia; The Finnish-Egyptian Samira Elagoz; The German Birgit Freitag; The Austrian Brigitte Fürle, artistic director of the House of the Festival of St. Pölten; The Spanish bailaor Eduardo Guerrero; The Austrian Rebecca Horner; The Greek Euripides Laskaridis, founder of the company Osmosis; The American Julian Amir Lacey; South Korean I Jung Lim; The Finnish collective Marble Crowd; The Cape Verdean Marlene Monteiro Freitas; The Spanish Emilio Ochando; The Swedish Johannes Öhmann, from 2018 co-director of the Staatsballett Berlin (after the disaster left by the Spanish Nacho Duato); The British Adam Russell-Jones; The Dutch Arno Schuitemaker; The Franco-German Claire Vivianne Sobottke; The American Brandon Washington; And Austrian Prisca Zeisel, a new acquisition of Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich.”