Figuras da Dança 2008
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Antonio Carlos Rebesco

The daughter of Japanese immigrants, Ivonice Satie began her dance training at age nine, at Escola Municipal de Bailado de São Paulo. During 14 years she integrated the corps de ballet of Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, currently renamed Balé da Cidade de São Paulo. She was also a dancer and assistant choreographer with the Ballet du Grand Théatre de Genève before holding a position as artistic director of the Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, at which she created a subsidiary company for veteran dancers named Cia. 2. Satie worked as guest choreographer for dance companies in Croatia, France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United States

Figuras da Dança 2008
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Antonio Carlos Rebesco

Argentine-born dancer Ismael Guiser arrived in Brazil in 1953 to perform as soloist at Ballet do IV Centenário, at the invitation of the company's director Aurélio Milloss. Guiser, who only began to dance at age 18, eventually became a soloist with the Ballet de La Plata, in Buenos Aires. In the early 1950s, he moved to Europe to work at the La Scala Theater, in Milan, together with French choreographer Roland Petit. He held a choreographer position at the Ballet do Museu de Arte de São Paulo, for which he created his early professional choreographies. He also danced at the now extinct TV Tupi. In Brazil, he designed choreographies for his own dance company and for other companies such as Balé do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro and Cisne Negro.

Figuras da Dança 2008
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Antonio Carlos Rebesco

Rio de Janeiro-born Ady Addor held positions as prima ballerina at such renowned companies as Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, Ballet do IV Centenário, Ballet Nacional de Venezuela, Ballet Nacional de Cuba and American Ballet Theatre, of New York. Celebrated for her skills as a theatrical dancer, she retired from the dance career in 1961, at age 26, so as to devote herself to her family life in São Paulo. Addor set up a school in the Pinheiros district, the famous Balleteatro. She taught classes at Balé da Cidade and remains to date as one of the most respected maîtresses de ballet in Brazil.

Figuras da Dança 2008
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Antonio Carlos Rebesco

In her 50-year career, Rio de Janeiro-born Penha de Souza treaded a unique path, from classical ballet to Alongamento Corretivo Postural (literally: corrective postural stretching), a regimen of physical exercises that she created with elements borrowed from ballet, modern dance, and techniques from Yoga, Pilates and GPR (global postural reeducation). As a dancer, she performed in TV specials broadcasted by TV Tupi, TV Rio, TV Record and TV Paulista. From New York she imported Martha Graham’s techniques and she held a position as choreographer at Cisne Negro. In fact she designed the first dance program for this company, Pulsación, presented in 1977. Penha de Souza made a significant contribution to the recognition of dance as an established occupation in Brazil. She co-founded the Associação Paulista de Profissionais da Dança (APPD), later renamed State of São Paulo Union of Professional Dancers.

Figuras da Dança 2008
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Antonio Carlos Rebesco

Marilena Ansaldi is a dancer, choreographer, producer, author and actress. She was prima ballerina at the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo and a precursor of dance theater in Brazil. She co-founded the Balé de Câmara do Estado de São Paulo. Ansaldi trained for three years at the Bolshoi Ballet, with which she performed as prima ballerina. Back in Brazil, she worked with important personalities from the theater, dance and television realms. In 1975 she turned to focus on authorial dance theater. The innovative character and artistic quality of her works have earned Ansaldi prizes such as for example the APCA award, the Molière and the State of São Paulo Governor award. In her work, she seeks inspiration in authors that include Wilhelm Reich, Clarice Lispector and Heiner Muller.

Figuras da Dança 2009
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Sérgio Roizenblit

Ruth Rachou is a key personality in modern dance in Brazil. She began her dance training at the traditional Ballet do IV Centenário (1954) and ultimately influenced an entire generation of dance and dancers. She boasts a successful career as dancer, choreographer and teacher. As an actress, Rachou was featured in movies produced by the Vera Cruz studios. As a dancer, she performed with the corps de ballet at TV Record. In Brazil, she led the dissemination of a few techniques of U.S. modern dance. In 1972, she established her dance school, Espaço de Dança Ruth Rachou, which today not only offers a regular program of modern dance and Pilates classes, but also serves as a place for reflection and discussion about the performing arts.

Figuras da Dança 2009
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Sérgio Roizenblit

The company Cisne Negro Cia. de Dança was founded in 1977 by Hulda Bittencourt, who built herself an solid track record in the dance realm. She has played roles as dancer, choreographer, teacher, and founder of both a dance school and a dance company. In the early days of her career, she danced with various groups and played parts in operas, operettas and musicals. Among her works, the yearly stagings of The Nutcracker, which have surpassed 25 productions, are particularly noteworthy. Bittencourt began her dance training with Maria Olenewa and later continued under Vaslav Veltcheck, Ismael Guiser, Bill Martin Viscount, John O`Brien, Rosella Hightower, Herida May and Shirley Graham.

Figuras da Dança 2009
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Sérgio Roizenblit

Argentine-born Luis Arrieta moved from Buenos Aires to Brazil, in 1974, at the invitation of Marilena Ansaldi, to join Ballet Stagium. Throughout more than 40 years of activities as dancer, choreographer and artistic director, he built one of the most remarkable works of dance ever produced in Brazil. He designed nearly one hundred choreographies and played a decisive role in the history of important dance companies such as Balé da Cidade de São Paulo and Balé Teatro Castro Alves, of Salvador. On two occasions he held the position of artistic director at Balé da Cidade de São Paulo. Arrieta co-founded and was artistic director of Elo Ballet de Câmara Contemporâneo, of Belo Horizonte.

Figuras da Dança 2009
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Sérgio Roizenblit

Parisian-born Tatiana Leskova is one of the most important personalities of Brazilian dance. She arrived in Brazil for the first time in 1942, as a member of Colonel de Basil’s Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo. In 1944 she relocated in the country. For many years she directed the Balé do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, making it into one of the most prestigious ballet companies in the country and having it restage some great classics of dance. After working extensively with Léonide Massine, Leskova acquired extensive experience remounting his choreographies. For this reason she has been invited to restage his works at companies in England, France (at the Paris Opera, at Rudolf Nureyev’s invitation),  and the Low Countries.

Figuras da Dança 2009
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Sérgio Roizenblit

Antonio Carlos Cardoso became acquainted with dance in Porto Alegre, where he was born. In the early 1960s he moved to Rio de Janeiro and joined the corps de ballet of the Theatro Municipal, his first position as a professional dancer. After working for European companies, he contributed to redirect the course of Brazilian dance when he became artistic director of Corpo de Baile Municipal de São Paulo (later renamed Balé da Cidade), in 1974. During his tenure, he worked with such leading choreographers as Oscar Araiz, Victor Navarro and Sônia Mota. In 1981, he participated in the creation of the Balé Teatro Castro Alves,a  company that he directed with intervals until 2005. In Salvador, he began his career in photography, which has already earned him photos published in renowned magazine and catalogues.

Figuras da Dança 2010
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Moira Toledo

Angel Vianna stands out as a leading name in the research of movement in Brazil. She began her dance training in Belo Horizonte, under Carlos Leite. Her marriage to Klauss Vianna, in 1955, marked the beginning of a long-standing and nurturing partnership in life as well as in dance. Together they founded a first dance school, in Belo Horizonte, where they introduced the multidisciplinary approach and began to research movement. In the 1960s the Viannas moved to Rio de Janeiro, where they entered the theater realm, training actors and shaping their bodies. Angel Vianna influenced an entire generation with her knowledge of the human body. In Rio de Janeiro, a college has been named after her. Her current activities include teaching and lecturing.

Figuras da Dança 2010
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Moira Toledo

Carlos Moraes played a key role in the consolidation of dance in the state of Bahia. He began his dance training in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where he was born.  In the 1960s he initiated his professional career as dancer with Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro. The dance teacher, maître de ballet, choreographer and director arrived in Salvador in the early 1970s to teach ballet at Escola de Ballet do Teatro Castro Alves (EBATECA). Soon the teaching of ballet and the concept of stage dancing were to undergo major changes, which echoed in the socio-cultural field. Through his conscientious work, Moraes mixed African dance, ballet, modern dance and folklore manifestations; he encouraged the coming closer together of middle-class white female dancers and poor, black young men who practiced capoeira. He turned miscegenation into the starting point of his dance programs.

Figuras da Dança 2010
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Moira Toledo

Márcia Haydée is the world acclaimed Brazilian dancer, who became known as the “Maria Callas of dance” for her interpretive vigor. In the course of her career, she danced with the Marquis de Cuevas Ballet; however, it was after she joined the Stuttgart Ballet to dance under director John Cranko, that in the early 1960s she became the choreographer’s muse and came forth as a star actress and prima ballerina. In the 1970s, following Cranko’s death, Márcia Haydée was appointed artistic director of Stuttgart Ballet, a position she maintained for 20 years. In the course of her career, Haydée partnered with such leading names in the dance realm as Richard Cragun, Rudolf Nureyev, Jorge Donn, Maurice Bejárt, and John Neumeier.

Figuras da Dança 2010
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Moira Toledo

Décio Otero is one of the most renowned personalities of dance in Brazil. With the foundation of his Ballet Stagium, in the early 1970s, he played a leading role in the swift change in the course of Brazilian dance. He took his company in national tours, presenting choreographies that depicted the situation of the various parts of the country. This initiative has resulted in more than 50 dance programs that he designed in the nearly 40 years of existence of Ballet Stagium. Otero was also active as artistic director and organizer of socio-educational programs for schools and other institutions. As a director of Ballet Stagium he has trained several people, from dancers to stage lighting designers.

Figuras da Dança 2010
Directed by Inês Bogéa and Moira Toledo

Dancer, choreographer and director Sônia Mota was one of the most active personalities of the São Paulo dance realm in the 1970s. After performing for four years at The Royal Ballet of Flanders, she returned to Brazil and collaborated in the renovation of the Corpo de Baile Municipal de São Paulo, the Grupo Andança and the Teatro Galpão company. In 1989, she began her long sojourn in Germany, where in addition to acting as a dancer, choreographer and teacher, she developed her own method that she called Arte da Presença [the art of presence]. This method employs the student’s body and limitations to enable him/her to discover his/her possibilities of movement. Currently Mota is the artistic director of Companhia Palácio das Artes, in Belo Horizonte.

Figuras da Dança 2011
Directed by Inês Bogéa

The dancer Célia Gouvêa was born in Campinas and is one of the greatest names of dance in São Paulo. She divided her career between Brazil and Europe and joined the first class of Mudra - European Center for Improvement and Research of Interpreters of Spectacle, directed by Maurice Béjart (1927-2007). Along with other creators, she founded, in Belgium, the Chandra Group - Research Theater of Brussels, directed by Micha Van Hoecke. In Brazil, she choreographed for the Dance Theater of São Paulo, Galpão Theater, Municipal Corps de Ballet - currently, Ballet of the City of São Paulo, Célia Gouvêa Dance Class, Guaíra Theater, among others. Abroad, she choreographed for names such as: All Angels Theatre Troupe, of New York; Upper School of Dance of Lisbon and Dance Company of Lisbon, Portugal; Lyon 5ême and Francheville, in France. She is a founding member of the Cooperativa Paulista dos Bailarinos Coreógrafos de São Paulo (São Paulo Dance Cooperative).

Figuras da Dança 2011
Directed by Inês Bogéa

Ana Botafogo, from Rio de Janeiro, is one of the greatest names of dance in Brazil. Student of the dance studio of the ballet dancer Leda Iuqui, she had her first contract as a professional ballet dancer in the Ballet de Marseille, directed by Roland Petit. Still in Europe, she attended Goubé Studio in Pleyel Room, in Paris, the International Dance Academy Rosella Hightower, in Cannes and the Dance Center-Covent Garden, in London. In the 70's, she was a ballet dancer of Guaíra Theater and, later on, of the Associação de Ballet do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Ballet Association). Ana became the first ballet dancer of the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro in 1981, position which she currently holds. She danced the most important works of the classic repertoire as a soloist, among them Giselle, of Jean Coralli (1779-1854) and Jules Perrot (1802-1892), considered one of her best interpretations by the critics. She danced in the whole world and had important partners, as Fernando Bujones, Jean Yves Lormeau, Julio Bocca, Richard Cragun, Francisco Timbó, Marcelo Misailidis, Vitor Luis, and others. On TV, she can be seen as Elisa, in the soap opera Viver a Vida (Live Life), of Manuel Carlos. Ana also wrote a book "Ana Botafogo - On tiptoes", based on interviews to Dalal Achcar and Leda Nagle.