In a Folia, Marco da Silva Ferreira draws on a 15th-century social phenomenon to explore the concepts of ecstasy, euphoria, and collective rebellion as driving forces behind cultural, political, and artistic creation.

Folia, a musical pillar of the Renaissance, originated from a popular gathering in Portugal, where shepherds and shepherdesses danced in a fast and disorderly manner, carrying men dressed as women on their shoulders. Of rural origin, linked to fertility rituals, festivities, music, and dance, it quickly became part of the celebrations of royal courts, especially in Southern Europe.

The word Folia in Portuguese comes from the combination of fole—the bellows used to stoke a fire, etymologically related to fôlego (breath, the act of inhaling air)—and folga (a day of rest or leisure).

The folião/foliona—the reveler, freed from labor—allows themselves to fill their head and lungs with air and behave with an apparent madness. This historical network of meanings, directions, and metaphors reflects the relevance and even the driving force of this phenomenon in the past and, provocatively, in the present.

From this historical context, the choreographer stages a fictional encounter between the Portuguese festivity and contemporary dance.