Two full hands. Hands that are not enough to count the stories, the shows presented, the places traveled, the artists whose hands we have shaken, and the countless people who joined their hands with ours, helping to build every day this Festival that finally reaches its tenth edition.

The Vaudeville Rendez-Vous is nonconformist, unformatted, and restless. It jumps from city to city, occurs in the most unusual spaces, and despite the maturity gained over a decade, continues to cross borders. This year, with a program that extends to four theaters of this Quadrilateral – Casa das Artes, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, gnration, and Theatro Gil Vicente. This program, divided between conventional halls and public space, gives this edition a great plurality of formats, ranging from performance-installation to biographically inspired circus, confronting the audience with new ways of writing within these languages. The circus is not just street art, just as theater is not a language confined to the boards of the stage; both can happen anywhere, even in a theater.

The iconoclastic Vaudeville Rendez-Vous has established itself as an important showcase for the best national and international productions, with a program that is both experimental and popular, capable of unsettling audiences and confronting them with the unknown. It is increasingly urgent to engage with the unknown, in a practice of permanent questioning and building a curious and open view of the world.

Over the years, we have built and followed the work of many artists from various latitudes. In these five days of strong intercultural dialogue, we welcome artists from diverse origins such as Belgium, Brazil, Chile, South Korea, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and, of course, Portugal. Many hands have helped us count to ten. The same hands that now rise to wave to the future. Shall we count another ten?