VAPOR, infiltrable occupation is the latest creation by Original Bomber Crew and marks a turning point of a trilogy that began in 2018 with tReta, a performative invasion and continued online with Suspeit∞, a monitorized work in 2020. VAPOR was first presented as a series of five videos in 2021.
The titles of this trilogy come from a vocabulary that emerges in the outskirts of Brazil and invites us to think about the fires that rise in the alleys—not only the urban ones, but also those of the “aquilombamentos”, of the marginal spaces. Aquilombamento is a Portuguese word that has no direct English translation. It is a process of empowerment and self-affirmation for black people, rooted in the history of quilombos, which were communities of escaped enslaved people in Brazil. The quilombo was the space where enslaved people resisted the system and fleeing the spaces of exploitation, got together, and created ways of resistance in culture, music, spirituality, and material production. To aquilombar is an act of resistance and survival.
VAPOR manifests itself not only as a work, but as a fugacious process that unfolds through multiple creative languages: dance, poetry, graffiti, streetstyle, video, breaking, music, capoeira, and references from Brazilian popular culture. It comes like a litany, a song, a prayer, whose repetitions ritualize the arrival of new cycles.
VAPOR reflects Bomber Crew’s own practices, based on the relationship between each other as well as the one towards the streets they inhabit and cross. Dança Quebrada (broken dance), as these artists call their transformation of reality through hip-hop and contemporary art, emerges as a poetic survival strategy despite the systemic disposability imposed on their bodies.
The performance links breaking and capoeira, rooted in the African diaspora, and reaffirms the place where the group comes from: Teresina-Piauí, Northeast Brazil—an eminently riverside territory pulsating with life stories of water, animals, forests, and the sun – beyond the asphalt.
On stage, seven performers recreate their world of rivers, forests, and narrow streets. In Teresina, “vapor” means “disappear” – but here, it becomes a call to reclaim space.
Fluid yet fierce, VAPOR transforms absence into a dynamic, immersive dance that celebrates resilience and visibility.
Duration: 60 min.
Premiere: September 2024, Brazil.
In partnership with: Original Bomber Crew + Revoada|CAMPO. Immersions & creative residencies: land occupations at Lindalma Soares, Pedro Balzi, Jacinta Andrade and Vila Esperança (Teresina, BR, 2021); Residencies at Quintal da Revoada (Teresina, BR, 2021), CAMPO Arte Contemporânea (Teresina, BR, 2024), FAROFA/Casa Oswald de Andrade/Casa Líquida (São Paulo, BR, 2024) and Festival DDD/Teatro Campo Alegre (Porto, PT, 2024).