Karla C. Mello

Karla Calasans is a multidisciplinary artist, working as an actress, writer, embroiderer, Portuguese language teacher, and Creative Director of Cia Abrigo Santo Teatro. She graduated in Portuguese Language and Literature from the Catholic University of Brasília in 1999. She holds a Master’s degree in Literature from the University of Brasília (2010), where she completed the dissertation Nos En(tre)cantos de Dulcinea Del Toboso (uma cantata cénica), an investigation into Dulcinea’s silence in Don Quixote. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Doctoral Programme in Artistic Creation at the University of Aveiro.

Throughout her teaching career, she taught Portuguese language at several private educational institutions in the Federal District, including Marista Champagnat School (2002–2007), JK School (2005), and Projeção University Centre (2011–2017). Since 1999, she has served as a Portuguese language teacher at the Federal District Department of Education in Brasília, Brazil.

Doctoral project

Title
Oji – A Arqueóloga do Futuro – O encantamento na Arte de contar histórias ancestrais

Thesis supervision
Gilvano Dalagna (advisor), Jorge Salgado Correia and Evani Tavares (coadvisors)

Abstract
The investigation addresses the enchantment of telling ancestral stories to children, with the central element being the protagonism of children on stage. They are invited to experience the enchantments of ancestry through sensory experiences during the storytelling and living of stories. For this purpose, the children are inserted into the story through Oji, a Black girl, who invites them to become part of the Archaeologist of the Future’s patrol and, together with her, to seek out ancestral stories that have been hidden, concealed, kidnapped, and erased over centuries of silencing African and Afro-descendant knowledge.

Keywords
Enchantment in performing arts; Children; Living of stories; Ancestry; African and Afro-descendant knowledge.