When I received the Trailblazer Fellowship award in 2003 it was right at the beginning of my transition to become a choreographer. At that time I was simply searching to find my voice as an artist. The focus for me was the research for my individual movement vocabulary to inform the creation of my first solo O lungo Dromm (Romany for The Long Road), based around my personal experiences with migration.

Trailblazers was the second award I received in my career, and it gave me the confidence to progress with the work I really wanted to do. As a result I went on to build a body of work that I feel really belongs to me. At the time I signed up for Trailblazers I was trying to work out exactly what contemporary dance and choreography means to me. I’m happy to say that, and the answers I discovered then, have served me well as the platform to build my career on.

Brazil is a real melting pot and this cultural richness, specially the influences of African descent, is present in everything I do although as an element that informs the whole rather than in an obvious stylistic way. My interest as an artist is the constant evolution of these influences.

After the first major tour of the company work INSIDE in 2011, I want to take my time to start a new phase of work. I’ll be researching a new solo and another piece with the company. In this new phase I’ll be looking to interact with visual art and artists and also I feel a need to engage artistically with the country that I originally come from, Brazil.