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Viva a Vida – The story of Vinicius

VINÍCIUS CERQUEIRA, 18 YEARS OLD Vinicius joined Viva a Vida in 2014 as a member of V2 Theatre Group and the Vila Jovem Youth Group When Vinicius first approached Viva a Vida he frowned and asked “do you notice anything strange about me?” He watched some of our theatre group’s open rehearsals and couldn’t believe his eyes, but he wasn’t…

Dear Somebody, once they asked me what my dream was, then I thought, and thought and thought a little bit more, but in the end I didn’t know what to say, not for lack of dreams, but because of the immense number that I have. I am overflowing with dreams, I am overflowing in my smile, my look, my words, my soul, and particularly on the stage.

On the stage we are free spirits, with dreams to give and sell, but we don’t sell these dreams for money, we sell them for laughter, feelings and emotions. The stage is my origin, the stage is my house, my safe harbour, I am a bird flying over skies and other things. Away from it I feel empty, incomplete. Perhaps my greatest dream, dear somebody, is to sell dreams, to sell them through my art, my texts, my music and poetry.

Sincerely, from somebody else.

My name is Ana Clara Colombi, I am 17 years old and I have lived in Vila de Abrantes for 4 years. I used to live in Rio Grande do Sul (in the south of Brazil). I have participated in Viva a Vida activities since I came to Bahia – I have been in the V2 theatre group for four years and in the Vila Jovem Youth Group for one.

When I arrived in Bahia (where Viva a Vida is located), I was very sad and alone. When they decided to move, my parents told me that I would stay with my grandparents, but they decided to come here for their holidays, so I came too.

There (in the south) I had my friends, my school, my grades were always great. Then I came here and I didn’t want to study. I remember my reaction was:

“I won’t make any friends, I won’t make any friends, I’m going to ask my mum if I can leave.”

What saved me was getting to know Viva a Vida, the theatre group. Evelin (Projects Coordinator) ran some workshops at my primary school and said there were some vacancies in the theatre group, so I invited some classmates and we went along. This was in April, I’ll never forget it!

Joining the theatre group helped me a lot, I didn’t want to know about anything else, the theatre made me accept Bahia. Now I have the opportunity to leave and I don’t want to. I’m not going to leave the theatre because it would be a pity to drop it, I can’t see a life without theatre. It was here that I learnt and changed my way of thinking, how I treat people, even at home I have changed… I talk back less.

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