"And all of a sudden, everything changes.
We might not take much for granted in our lives, but that one we knew was ours "by right". We thought that in an evolved society like ours, there would be nothing and no one capable of stealing our freedom. Yes, my freedom was stolen from a hug, a caring, an affection, a touch. It took me away the pleasure of going out and taking a walk at sunset time, while I saw happy animals, children playing around, couples dating... Seeing, feeling and being able to live life.
Today that freedom has been taken away from me. The power of choice is no longer mine. We don't see it, we don't feel it, but it attacks with a force equal to seven seas. It’s overwhelming and disconcerting. Nobody is free to meet this new enemy that has no social rank. It is known it affects the wisest, but anyone can be caught in his network of destruction. It´s hard and often corrosive, but... There´s always a but in every story, because we are all going to “stay in the history of people's history” as Mariza sings in her song chuva.
Came and stole much of what I took for granted, but it reminded me the importance of all these and other things. Gave me what I had so cluelessly asked for, time. It is giving me time to do what I couldn't do before: time to listen the nature, time to hear my inside, time to be and play with my animals (now I know what it costs to spend days closed at home), time to study, time to value and time for those who really need us most. Came to steal and came to give. Which version will I´m going to choose to focus on?! A lot is going to change and a lot is already changed, it just remains to be seen if I will be the same person when all is over. For me everything has a reason and nothing happens by chance. When I think of the world as it “was before...", I conclude that we´re not in the best of directions either. So, it makes me think: Are we facing a scream for help from our own home, from our Planet Earth saying ENOUGH?! I know it was getting suffocating to breathe AIR, with more and more regular hurricanes and with industries producing more and more; in FIRE, with uncontrollable fires of natural causes; in WATER, with the saturation of pollution and acidity of the oceans; on EARTH with the uncontrolled use of resources. The four elements that together makes everything in perfect balance, at this stage of our lifes and our era are in total unbalance. Is everything happening also because of us? Yes! Our being always wants more and more. I know it's a gift for us humans to be persistents in everything we do, it just proves that we don't give up so easily, but I still feel it's too much! Too much pollution, too much consumption, too much superficial touch, no body, no soul. Just too much everything! Every day we face a lot of alerts in all kinds of shapes and forms.
I already stopped to think. I stopped and thought that since the beginning of this pandemic and isolation, we have stopped seeing our planet fighting back. The big fires disappeared overnight, as well as hurricanes and storms, the thaw slowed down at the poles, the air pollution almost evaporated, the waters are clearer, and all thanks to what?!
As the great actor and messenger of peace of the United Nations said: "As an actor, I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters, often solving fictitious problems." Well, as a dancer, I also pretend for a living. My profession is to bring fictitious characters to life... but this is not a world of fiction, and this is not fiction... it is reality! I believe human beings looked at all of this in the same way: as if it was a fiction, as if what we see daily on television is not happening on this planet, in this world. This is my message... A message of hope and appeal to all human beings capable of this change. Let´s pay more attention to our HOME, taking care and respecting it the best we know, because if we don't do, nobody else will and we´ll never be able to be better.
Will we be okay? Yes we will, but nothing will be the same as it was. I know it won’t!"
Fábio Simões
Professional Dancer and Producer
We might not take much for granted in our lives, but that one we knew was ours "by right". We thought that in an evolved society like ours, there would be nothing and no one capable of stealing our freedom. Yes, my freedom was stolen from a hug, a caring, an affection, a touch. It took me away the pleasure of going out and taking a walk at sunset time, while I saw happy animals, children playing around, couples dating... Seeing, feeling and being able to live life.
Today that freedom has been taken away from me. The power of choice is no longer mine. We don't see it, we don't feel it, but it attacks with a force equal to seven seas. It’s overwhelming and disconcerting. Nobody is free to meet this new enemy that has no social rank. It is known it affects the wisest, but anyone can be caught in his network of destruction. It´s hard and often corrosive, but... There´s always a but in every story, because we are all going to “stay in the history of people's history” as Mariza sings in her song chuva.
Came and stole much of what I took for granted, but it reminded me the importance of all these and other things. Gave me what I had so cluelessly asked for, time. It is giving me time to do what I couldn't do before: time to listen the nature, time to hear my inside, time to be and play with my animals (now I know what it costs to spend days closed at home), time to study, time to value and time for those who really need us most. Came to steal and came to give. Which version will I´m going to choose to focus on?! A lot is going to change and a lot is already changed, it just remains to be seen if I will be the same person when all is over. For me everything has a reason and nothing happens by chance. When I think of the world as it “was before...", I conclude that we´re not in the best of directions either. So, it makes me think: Are we facing a scream for help from our own home, from our Planet Earth saying ENOUGH?! I know it was getting suffocating to breathe AIR, with more and more regular hurricanes and with industries producing more and more; in FIRE, with uncontrollable fires of natural causes; in WATER, with the saturation of pollution and acidity of the oceans; on EARTH with the uncontrolled use of resources. The four elements that together makes everything in perfect balance, at this stage of our lifes and our era are in total unbalance. Is everything happening also because of us? Yes! Our being always wants more and more. I know it's a gift for us humans to be persistents in everything we do, it just proves that we don't give up so easily, but I still feel it's too much! Too much pollution, too much consumption, too much superficial touch, no body, no soul. Just too much everything! Every day we face a lot of alerts in all kinds of shapes and forms.
I already stopped to think. I stopped and thought that since the beginning of this pandemic and isolation, we have stopped seeing our planet fighting back. The big fires disappeared overnight, as well as hurricanes and storms, the thaw slowed down at the poles, the air pollution almost evaporated, the waters are clearer, and all thanks to what?!
As the great actor and messenger of peace of the United Nations said: "As an actor, I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters, often solving fictitious problems." Well, as a dancer, I also pretend for a living. My profession is to bring fictitious characters to life... but this is not a world of fiction, and this is not fiction... it is reality! I believe human beings looked at all of this in the same way: as if it was a fiction, as if what we see daily on television is not happening on this planet, in this world. This is my message... A message of hope and appeal to all human beings capable of this change. Let´s pay more attention to our HOME, taking care and respecting it the best we know, because if we don't do, nobody else will and we´ll never be able to be better.
Will we be okay? Yes we will, but nothing will be the same as it was. I know it won’t!"
Fábio Simões
Professional Dancer and Producer