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Oficina Zero is not a conventional educational program. It is not a formation from teachers to students but from artists to artists, person to person, citizen to citizen.
Under the artistic direction of Mafalda Deville, the Oficina Zero Formation Programme is designed for ambitious, creative, and physical performers who seek to deepen their artistic practice and engage with a formation rooted in the realities of the contemporary performing arts field.
We invite artists who lead the formation to approach it not as teachers delivering content, but as fellow learners open to being shaped by the group and the moment.
Everyone has something to offer. Everyone has something to learn. Everyone has a voice that matters.
We see the formation group not as passive recipients, but as active contributors, responsible for exchanging knowledge, perspectives, and lived experience. People come into the programme at different stages of their journey, but all are seen as equal participants in the process.
We invest in an Human-Centered, Individual Approach by staying close and personalize artistic formation, where one-on-one as well as regular group meetings and feedback is a regular practice of the process. This allows us to follow each performer’s development emotionally, creatively, and critically both inside and outside the studio.
Diversity as a Core Value
Each year, Oficina Zero selects a deliberately heterogeneous group of performers and artists from a variety of backgrounds and practices, including:
— Contemporary Dance
— Theater
— Circus
— Dance-Theater
— Visual Arts
— Design
— Music
— Performing arts
This diversity is not just welcomed, it is necessary. We believe that deep learning happens through the sharing of different perspectives, bodies, practices and experiences. This creates a more real, consistent, and mature evolution whether physical, creative, mental, critical, or reflective.
Over the course of this one-year journey, the Oficina Zero Programme aims to:
Rich artistic and human encounters
(workshop, creation or classes format)
With: Horacio Macuacua; Ana Dias; Beatriz Valentim; Elisabeth Lambeck, Daniela Cruz, Deeogo Oliveira, Luis Cruz, Ana Rocha, Sabrina Gargano, Rafa Rafat, Fabian Thomé, Nuria Guiu, Joclécio Azevedo, Marianne Baillot, Cristina Planas Leitão, Mafalda Deville, Nuno Preto, Teresa Arede, Piny Orchideacea, Afonso Cunha, Ricardo Machado, Eríc Dos Santos, Sara Santervás.
Personalized and responsive formation
Surf; Climbing; Yoga; Pilates; Capoeira; Ballet; Contemporary techniques; Composition; “Urban” Dances, Creative methodologies, Workshops, Performatic Conversations, Open stages, Co-creation exercises, Site specific projects, Networking, Creations/performances on tour.
Personalized and responsive formation
— Diverse physical, conceptual, and creative input;
— Experience in working with a huge diversity of artists and artistic approaches;
— A space of co-responsibility, care, and collective reflection;
— Create a community and artistic working collective;
— A formation that adapts to the needs of now, not a distant ideal. Discussions open to the community about important matters of today and what it is to be an artist right now.
WORKSHOPS
In-Depth Training for the Contemporary Dance and Performance Community
The Intensive Workshops are a core part of Oficina Zero’s formation program and are also open to the wider contemporary dance and performance community. Designed for those seeking deeper immersion, these workshops offer 5 consecutive days of focused training and artistic exchange, with a limited number of spots available to ensure quality and care.
Each workshop runs between 12 and 25 hours per week, with daily sessions ranging from 3 to 5 hours. They are held primarily at ADM – Matosinhos Dance Academy, with occasional sessions in other locations.
Pricing is accessible and scaled per workshop, ranging from €75 to €200.
These workshops are not just training opportunities — they are part of Oficina Zero’s commitment to investing in the local and national dance community in a conscious, inclusive, and responsible way.
We aim to bring together diverse artists, bodies, and practices, and to create space for deep learning, artistic risk, and collective growth. Through these intensives, we hope to support a more sustainable, connected, and equitable ecosystem for contemporary dance.
Open Workshops
Dates and Artists
09.2026
Horácio Macuacua
Ídio Chichava
12.2026
Ana de Oliveira e Silva
Cristina Planas Leitão
02.2027
Fabian Thomé
03.2027
Sabrina Gargano & Rafa Jagat
*discounts 20% for ex-Oficina Zero or returners
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