Behind Happy Island lies a joint venture between La Ribot and the Portuguese inclusive dance company Dançando com a Diferença. On the island of Madeira where they have settled, Henrique Amoedo and his dancers live with open doors: anyone can come and go as they wish, the atmosphere is joyful and simple.

The Geneva-based Spanish choreographer can’t believe her eyes and joins the dots with her own artistic preoccupations about how we integrate and understand others. She creates Happy Island with five dancers from Dançando: an ode to imagination, effervescence and existence in its most varied forms; a production that combines choreography with film, that tells us about the desire to live with the whole strength of our bodies and their thrilling beauty—desire in the form of an idea and an action. A dream to be experienced awake, with your eyes wide open.