Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1990. The company has presented in several cities in Brazil and abroad, and their choreographies aim to stimulate reflexion, create a space for debate, sensitize others to the issues of contemporary art, establish intellectual and affective encounters, and support and invest in the formation and information of new audiences. In 2003, Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças was invited to collaborate with CEASM, the Centre for Study and Social Actions in the Complexo da Maré, one of the largest complexes of favelas in Rio de Janeiro. The group transferred their daily activities to the Morro do Timbau with the purpose of building and guaranteeing an adequate space for dance, and offering classes and workshops for the young people of the community. At CEASM, the group created three original productions, including encarnado, a piece that investigates to what extent is it possible to feel the pain of others. Working with violence in the favelas of Rio, the very place where violence gets actualized on bodies, encarnado raises questions about the possibility of empathy. Besides encarnado, contra aqueles difíceis de agradar and hymnen where also created at CEASM, and the the group has also presented there pieces from their repertoire, aquilo de que somos feitos and formas breves. In 2007, they began a new project in the Nova Holanda community, still in Maré, to establish the Centro de Artes da Maré.
