Marlyn Ortiz spent her childhood in Puerto  Rico and emigrated at a young age to New York, where she began dancing in a backyard in the Bronx. By the 1990s, she was already a well-known presence in New York clubs, from whence she leapt into the world’s biggest stages, dancing in music videos and tours for Madonna, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Black Eyes Peas and Usher. At the same time, she performed in Broadway musicals and created shows with her own company, Bon Bon Burlesque. Over the last seven years, she has been Madonna’s personal trainer. 

The idea behind 5, 6, 7, 8 and One appeared in 2017, when Marlyn and Martim met in an outdoor café in the centre of Lisbon, and not even a global pandemic could prevent this project from materialising. With borders closed, between zoom meetings, WhatsApp messages and late-night phone calls, the script gradually took shape. They both like to look at this project as a celebration on the basis of “it takes two to tango”, but in truth it is nothing more than a casual meeting between two artists belonging to entirely different worlds. As they count their steps towards their meeting, they gradually come closer to an unexpected revelation.