The truly brave are soft of heart and eyes,
and feel for what their duty bids them do.

The truly brave,
When they behold the brave oppressed with odds,
Are touched with a desire to shield and save:--
A mixture of wild beasts and demi-gods
Are they--now furious as the sweeping wave,
Now moved with pity; even as sometimes nods
The rugged tree unto the summer wind,
Compassion breathes along the savage mind.

-Lord Byron (Don Juan)


ruinedmap dance company was founded by Abel Coelho in 2002. 
                    
Our work lives in the border between dance and theatre.  We create body based works that are affecting, visceral, and authentic.

Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: "wise man" or "knowing man") in the family Hominidae (the great apes). Compared to other species, humans have a highly developed brain capable of abstract reasoning, language, and introspection. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees their upper limbs for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Humans now inhabit every continent and low Earth orbit, with a total population of over 6.7 billion as of March 2008.

Like most primates, humans are social by nature. However, humans are particularly adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families to nations. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of traditions, rituals, ethics, values, social norms, and laws which form the basis of human society.


The mouth is important for everyday use.  We use the mouth.  Without the mouth, we might perhaps revert to more basic and direct means of communication, just gossamer language with our limbic systems.  When an age comes where the mouth ceases to matter, then maybe we will have found a truer means of talking to each other.  A language that no longer uses symbols/words, but less concrete means of expressing our feelings.

When I realized that the human body is capable of so many actions, infinite ways of moving and posturing, I began to wonder how trapped   we were in our learned movement patterns.  We are shackled to our learned movements from childhood, and if we just try to break out of them, the  unexpected difficulty is incredible, surprising.  Interacting with the world in a less formalistic way involves far less and far more effort than one could suspect.

Our vocal equipment is capable of producing infinite sounds, yet most of us limit ourselves to our vocabularies and some society-acceptable noises.  The capacity to communicate incredible volumes beyond merely that which can be put into words lies mostly dormant in all of us. 

Our bodies are still aliens.  We have more than infinite communication strategies that are unused, unknown.  That which you see onstage is an authentic exploration of these alternative, yet truer means of language.  We are communicating with the most alien of creatures: each other.


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