Lights! Camera! And… Improvisation! That’s how the week from 27 July to 1 August unfolded at the i.Lab #2026 Arts for Childhood – Immersive Training in Loulé.
Amidst familiar and unfamiliar faces, a shared purpose has the power to transform encounters into genuine connections. From these unique moments emerge beautiful emotions, the sorts that are felt far more deeply than they can ever be put into words. And why dwell on words? There are feelings that live in realms where language cannot reach. And, in this space, between what is seen and what is felt, between the concrete and the subjective, that emotions truly find their voice And they flit like butterflies, erratic and unpredictable, yet whenever they come to rest, they absorb the beauty around them and fill the Solar da Música Nova Auditorium with colour.
The i.Lab #2026 Immersive Training Programme for Children was, more than just a week in Loulé, a space, an event, an experience in which people undergo a metamorphosis – an ‘exercise in Ageless Humanity’, of ‘Inspiration and Transformation’. Throughout the sessions, different traits emerged – in silence or in sound, in organisation or in confusion – creating masses of bodies and voices, industrial machines, dances and gales in a harmonious chaos, forming a sensitive and delicate being.
Every moment – from ‘Voice and Body’ with Jorge Parente, to ‘Free Improvisation’ with Chefa Alonso, ‘Tracing Gesture’ with Rita Roberto, ‘Improvisation Games’ with Inês Rodrigues da Silva, and ‘Okshmauzz! Improvising on gibberish’ with Helena Rodrigues – culminated in rich collective experiences and individual learning, where sharing found fertile ground to flourish. Throughout this week, educators and participants walked side by side, sowing the seeds of encounters and cultivating a spirit of listening. And, amidst voices and bodies, they saw music, emotions and life emerge and flourish, highlighting the ‘infinite possibilities’ inherent in the act of creating together.
It is said that “still waters don’t move mills”, and it was precisely this spirit of coming together and sharing that characterised this Immersive Training Programme organised by the Companhia de Música Teatral, in partnership with the Group of Education and Human Development (GEDH) at the Centre for Music Studies (CESEM). This training course involved 30 participants: 18 trainees and 12 artists/educators from the CMT, coming from different fields and backgrounds. Those present included 12 teachers, 8 artists working in music, theatre, dance and other creative fields, 3 early years educators, as well as socio-cultural facilitators, researchers and professionals in music therapy, psychology, cultural mediation and therapeutic intervention. Among the various academic backgrounds, it is worth highlighting the links that several students have with NOVA FCSH, in particular the Master’s in Music Education Teaching in Basic Education and the Postgraduate Course in Music in Early Childhood: Intervention and Research, which strengthens the link between academic training and artistic practice and enables the consolidation of key skills for professional development in the fields of music education and early childhood education. Also represented were institutions such as the Universities of Évora, Minho and Aveiro, Lusíada University, the Escola Superior de Educação do Politécnico do Porto and the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra, as well as various international institutions.
From the convergence of these paths emerged a diverse group, where different experiences and perspectives intersected and came together in a vibrant tapestry of knowledge and aspirations, bringing new colours and flavours to the week.
Matilde Pimentel,
participant in i.Lab #2026, holder of a Master’s in Music Education Teaching in Basic Education from NOVA FCSH and a trainee at the Companhia de Música Teatral under the IEFP programme.
Video reel by CMT (Instagram)
Coverage by Cineteatro Louletano (Instagram)
Words from the participants
Loulé is a hug and a warm embrace. It is a sense of belonging. It is vulnerability. It is strength. It is humanity. It is sharing. It is meaning. It is immersing oneself in a world that seems more real than reality itself. And perhaps that is what makes it so hard when we leave Loulé: we don’t feel as though we’re returning to reality. We feel as though we’ve left it behind. Loulé is people. It is being able to be genuine, whole. It is a safe space for the body, for the mind, for the Voice. A place where you simply are and where you feel. A place of acceptance and freedom. It is play. It is being truly present.
Loulé is real. I want to freeze time. I want to go back to Loulé. I want to return to that place where, for a few days, life seemed exactly as it should be.
Raquel Fernandes
I was deeply moved by the inventive, creative and emotional power of the Immersive Lab in Loulé. I realise that we have created a space where people feel they belong, within a world so rich in possibilities! A true utopia, where everyone could be themselves and, at the same time, play at transforming into so many other things: beings, sounds and poems.
In the end, I deeply wished that our experience there could have lasted beyond those six days spent together, in that aesthetic closeness with every facilitator and every participant, through our improvisations, gestures, voices, sounds and glances…
An enchanting week, which I will certainly revisit many times in my memory, thereby nourishing my artistic, educational and human practice with enthusiasm and imagination.
Talita Vinagre
