AMAZÔNIA is the programme title for a 12 month series of events and shows co-produced by the Young Vic and People's Palace Projects, in association with the Servício Social de Comérico [SESC] and the League of Quadrilhas in Acre, Brazil. It is a ground-breaking and exhilarating season that links the riverside Amazon city of Rio Branco with the Thameside community of London's Waterloo.

The programme culminates in the latest in a long line of Young Vic Christmas shows, this time inspired by legends and lives from the Brazilian Amazon.

AMAZÔNIA explores and celebrates the popular culture of the people of the Amazon region. In particular it features the life and legacy of the world-famous environmental activist Chico Mendes and the vibrant beauty of the Quadrilha dance. Quadrilha expresses the vitality and creativity of people who are often financially poor but culturally rich.

The Christmas show Amazônia is directed by Paul Heritage (artistic director of People’s Palace Projects which in association with the Barbican brings the sensational AfroReggae to London) with Joe Hill-Gibbins (associate director at the Young Vic) and designed by the leading Brazilian designer Gringo Cardia (Cirque du Soleil, AfroReggae and Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker). The production features Brazilian as well as British actors.

The first phase of AMAZÔNIA has already taken place in Brazil between January and June 2008 (produced by João André da Rocha, People’s Palace Projects). It evolved from a series of workshops and encounters in 2007/08 between the Young Vic, People’s Palace Projects and members of the local Quadrilha league in Rio Branco. In June 08 SESC’s annual Quadrilha dance competition in Rio Branco featured a special prize sponsored by Young Vic and People’s Palace Projects. Quadrilha is danced across Brazil every June: from school playgrounds to the Presidential Palace. In the Amazon region there is a strong tradition of Quadrilha competitions which take place between teams of young people from different communities. For the first time,  the League of Quadrilhas in Rio Branco agreed to run a competition based on a theme. Each of the 18 groups was encouraged to produce a Quadrilha based on issues to do with climate change and the environment and to celebrate the life of the internationally renowned Amazonian activist Chico Mendes on the 20th anniversary of his assassination.

In August, Quadrilha dancing will come to London as a feature of Festa!, the Young Vic's summer community show, which will be given two performances on 16 August. Festa! takes place in the Young Vic’s main auditorium and outside on The Cut itself, with Brazilian drumming, dancing and more. It is being created with members of Spectaculu, the theatre and film design school in Rio de Janeiro run by Gringo Cardia for young people from Rio’s favelas.

The life of Chico Mendes reappears as a theme of the Christmas show, drawing on the work produced in Rio Branco. This deep cross-cultural collaboration will also include debates and discussions on the themes of activism, climate change, citizenship and pleasure.

AMAZÔNIA is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for two companies to create a season of excitement and experience neither could create on its own.

Chico Mendes (1944-1988) was a rubber tapper, trade unionist and environmental activist from the Amazonian state of Acre in the north west of Brazil. A man ahead of his time, he was one of the first to resist the deforestation of the Amazon by cattle ranchers, recognizing the devastating impact that unchecked burning would have on global ecology. By educating and uniting rubber tappers and the indigenous people of the forest, he took vital steps towards preserving the rainforest as a viable social and economic environment. He brought his message of the need for a sustainable forest economy to international prominence, leading to his assassination by local ranchers in December 1988. Chico's vision continues to inspire contemporary environmental activism.

Quadrilha, a high energy folk dance with narrative episodes, originates in the court dances of 18th century Europe. In its contemporary form, it tells the story of complications arising from a proposed marriage, usually with comic consequences. It is characterized by an almost frenzied synchronized line dancing by twelve or twenty four couples in elaborate country-style costumes. It is seen throughout Brazil, especially the north-east and the south-west, during the Festa Juninha (June Festival).

People’s Palace Projects creates performances, workshops, debates and publications that push the boundaries of where, how and why art matters. Inspired by artists who offer profound answers and illustrations of what art can do, we conceive large scale, multi-faceted projects authored and shaped around ideas and collaborations motivated by the power of art to progress social justice and change. Founded in 1999 and based in the historic East London building of the People’s Palace at Queen Mary, University of London, People’s Palace Projects is an arts organization that is rooted in local work at an international level in order to connect the margins with the centre, seeking transformation through the insight that comes from difference as well as the increased understanding that comes from shared experience.

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The Young Vic's previous international co-productions include Romeo and Juliet and Woyzek with Vesturport of Iceland, Cruel and Tender with the Vienna Festival, Fragments with Peter Brook’s CICT based in Paris and The Magic Flute and A Christmas Carol with Isango/Portobello of South Africa.