SYN.Tropia
Yola Pinto, Simão Costa (Portugal)‘SYN.Tropia’ is a pioneering dance-concert crafted by the established Portuguese artist duo, Yola Pinto and Simão Costa that is meticulously designed to engage both deaf and hearing audiences. The show has been touring nationally in Portugal since 2017, bringing together hearing impaired and general audiences in the theatre. ‘SYN.Tropia’ brings together those who can and those who cannot hear in the same audience. Everyone listens with their whole body via an unprecedented device called a ‘Tactile Listening Board’, available both for deaf and hearing audiences, which disseminates sonic content through touch.
This perfomance is part of a tour the creative team is organizing in 2025 in partnership with Rugi Agency (Vilnius), 3DFriends (Riga), and BRAINSHOT (Athens). This project is one of the 42 selected initiatives supported by Perform Europe.
Perform Europe, co-funded by the European Union, is a funding scheme that fosters international collaboration in the performing arts sector, promoting inclusive, eco-conscious, and geographically balanced touring practices.
About artists
Simão Costa and Yola Pinto, with solo artistic careers in the areas of music and dance respectively, have been creating shows and installations in partnership since 2011. The works by this artistic duo stems from the tradition of performing arts, creating music and dance shows where the poetics and sometimes the scenography itself is for the audience to enjoy. Working with a particular focus on touch and hearing, they invite their audiences to a tacit and presential experience of performing / scenographic / sculptural objects.
Credits
Concept and direction: Yola Pinto and Simão Costa
Dance: Yola Pinto
Piano and electronics: Simão Costa
Light design: Cristovão Cunha
Tactile Listening Board: Simão Costa, Yola Pinto and João Calixto
Drawing by: Yola Pinto
Based on music by: Simão Costa
Production: MãoSimMão
Acknowledgments: Miguel Carrelo and Mário Rainha Campos