The performance emerges from the desire of dancer-artists Marcos Ferreira and Ruan Wills to contribute to the revitalization of dance and cultural production in Salvador. Perceiving the crossroads that bring them together, the artists begin the creative process of the performance in January 2023, bringing their memories, life experiences, and the stories that trace the trajectory of their families—stories that also resemble those of the majority of Black people in Brazil.

Ancestry, references, memory, and return are words that ignited the creative process of the work. The artists, who in addition to being performers also sign the conception and choreography of the performance, emphasize rescue and return as important factors of survival, understanding that the more we approach our ancestry and the strength of those who came before, the more we also approach the strength that we are in this time.

Marcos Ferreira and Ruan Wills investigate in a multidirectional manner their references across time, understanding our existence as potency in the past and in the present, being future here and now. Discussing possibilities of understanding our gingas as technological mechanisms, they map new routes from this return. Dembwa is an invitation to re-access memories and dream with those who dreamed us, an awakening to our existence from looking toward our ancestors, recognizing ourselves as ancestors of this time. The performance permeates these grounds that affirm and strengthen us, bringing rhythms and contemporary choreographies to dance and recognize our bodies: from samba de caboclo, which leads to the ground, to funk, which evidences our potencies and identity, believing that the main objective is to dance our grounds and question where our root lies.