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Anastasia Alexopoulou is a 22-year-old artist from Athens, Greece.
Right now she is a student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in the departure of Theatre Studies. Through her university, she has had the opportunity to collaborate with schools and teach dramatic play to children, with one of her own plays, "I Wish..." being presented for the volunteer program "Experimental Application Of Theatre Training In Secondary Education".
Her love for writing started at a young age with poems and literature. "Crossing the border", one of her creations, won the first place at the 11th Panhellenic School Literary Competition of Petropolis
Educational Group, for the category "Social short story" at 2019 and her poem "One glass of water" was part of the "Unbound Athens", an exhibition of art against assault at 2024.
Physical activity, especially improvisation, has always been a big part of her everyday life, mixed with styles like contemporary dance, ballet, hip-hop and breaking but also singing, writing, acting, parkouring and tricking. Alex, as she likes to be called, believes that dancers should not only experience the artistic side of their own field, but also get involved with different kinds of art, movement and studies.
She envisions to create a safe place where all forms of art are equally accepted, connected to each other and also accessible to minorities of all kinds.
Being part of Oficina Zero is an opportunity for her to debunk the "elite" side of dancing, while helping herself and others connect with the human side of dancing, which brings people together and has enough space to involve all the different bodies and minds a society has.
Beatriz Martins Silva, 01/12/2005, is a artist raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
She started dancing at 5 years old with ballet classes at school, and as her interest for dance grew, she started trying other dance styles as well, tap, jazz, hip-hop and some pointe technique.
When she turned 14 years old, she moved to Porto with her family and decided to enter in Balleteatro Professional Dance School. There, she completed her high school studies having contemporary, ballet, modern, contact improvisation and repertoire experience along with the theorical classes. Although her favourite part was having creation processes with a lot of different Portuguese artists, resulting in presentations in the Coliseu do Porto.
In 2023, she graduated, presenting her final project "La Sirène" at Carlos Alberto and, in order to continue to grow as a dancer more intensively on a physical and creative level, she joined Oficina Zero.
This year she is joining Oficina once again, looking to challenge herself and going out of her comfort zone to grow as an artist and as a performer, in the communication, physicality and aesthetic level.
A fun fact is that she is interested in writing, playing guitar and combining dance with other performing arts, considering herself a curious, active and positive person.
Carolina Pereira, she/her, born in 2005, V.N.Famalicão, Portugal.
Carolina is an artist who has been dancing since she was 5 starting with ballet in a recreational way. At the age of 13 she started studying at Pallcº- Performing Arts School & Conservatory, in Porto, where she studied ballet as well as contemporary dance until she was 18 years old. She then joined the first year of the undergraduate dance program at Escola Superior de Dança, in Lisbon.
Carolina is now 19 years old and at Oficina Zero because she wants to challenge herself and get in touch with many artists and different approaches to dance. She's also looking to find her place in the arts field by exploring other art forms and finding possible ways to merge them with dance.
Over the years Carolina had the opportunity to participate in various projects such as Rampa.0 where she worked with Rui Horta and Miguel Oliveira and danced in "Sonhos de Einstein" by Rui Horta, "A hora em que não sabíamos nada uns dos outros" by Olga Roriz, intershiped at CPBC- Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporâneo and worked as a dancer in Profjam concerts coreographed by Amélia Bentes.
Eiby Lobos (she/her/ella/ela) is a Latinx performer, movement, choreographer, visual artist, instructor, and capoeirista originally from Los Angeles, California, with Maya Indigenous roots in Guatemala.
Lobos is passionate about research in issues of social injustice, culture, disruption, and generational memory through storytelling as an infusion for interdisciplinary performance. She takes pleasure in engaging in radical physical acts of movement that go beyond the human body’s capacity. She grounds and fuels herself in her artistic and political practices as a capoeirista. She joined Volta Míuda Capoeira in 2013 and spent her time training, traveling Brasil, and performing at a Tedx Salt Lake City talk titled Capoeira: Martial Arts Meets Music & Dance.
Body Logic Dance Company (currently: Serena Webb Dance Theater Company) under the direction of Serena Webb and Melanie Ewell, where her passion for choreography began to emerge. As an artivist, her works include art installations, physical theater, social justice concerns, and most importantly, her Indigenous roots. lobos graduated in 2013 with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at the University of Utah where she had the opportunity to travel to Panama for a dance exchange program called Movement Exchange move to change.
In 2024 she graduated with her Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Hollins University where she was granted a fellowship for the one-year residency program and had the opportunity to travel to San Francisco and Bulgaria
Deeply rooted in her passion to grow as a choreographer, she recently completed an intensive choreography program at FAICC- Instável Centro Coreográfico, where she presented her last work called ....10, 9, 8, 7, 6.... mierda prisa, at Campo Alegre Theatre, Porto, PT. Porto, Portugal, she is thrilled to be back and now join the program, Oficina Zero. Her goals are to keep looking for ways to create, perform, and collaborate with other artists, and eventually publish a book about the importance of movement and her ancestors.
Leonor Batista, she/her, born in 2002, Lisboa, Portugal.
Leonor’s journey in dance began at the age of 3 in urban dances. Later on, she found contemporary, ballet and flamenco; she kept this and tried other dance styles like jazz, Broadway, salsa, jive, girlie and high heels. In 2020, she entered in Escola Superior de Dança, where she finished her degree in 2023.
Above all, she marks 3 great teachers she had along her way in dance, Alexandra Melo, Alexandra Battaglia and João Lara. In ballet, Alexandra Melo gave her not only technique but also the beauty of filling a stage with grace. In contemporary, Alexandra Battaglia taught her that contemporary is not just an external form. With her, she made the performance “Blimunda” with Companhia Amálgama, and in flamenco, João Lara brought her the grit, the fire and all the passion that flamenco carries itself.
She also worked for 3 years at São Luiz Teatro Municipal as a coordinator, and made her gain an immense taste for stage direction.
My name is Margarita Rammou, a 27-year-old mover from Greece.
I have studied Management and Business Administration at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki. My journey into dance began at the age of 19 during my bachelor's degree studies.
Coming from a background in gymnastics, I desired a more creative way to express myself. So, I began taking contemporary dance classes. Eventually, I also started learning ballet, improvisation, and floor acrobatics. Each of these styles offered me unique opportunities to explore movement and emotions, pushing me to grow both physically and artistically.
I have attended seminars in contemporary dance and improvisation, and I have also participated in some performances.
This extensive experience has deepened my passion and confirmed my aspiration to become a professional artist.
Margot Thuillier is 25 years old and composed at 65% of water and 35% peanut butter.
Otherwise, she grew up in the North of France, in Boulogne-sur-mer and then Lille.
There, she began to dance both in the water and on earth. As a grown-up, she did literary studies and then theatre for three years in an intensive course. There, she met the colleagues and friends with whom she created in 2021 a theatre company « Collectif Fluides ». The work of the company is very linked to physical theatre.
Margot had been working with musicians for different projects, on stage and in more informal frames such as schools or medical educational institutes (IME).
She discovered during this past year, at the same time as she discovered the marvellous city of Porto, that dancing would take a main place in her present artistic discoveries and desires.
Nora Bermejo is an artist born in 2003 in Madrid, Spain.
She discovered theatre as a way to transfigure reality, of being involved with the others and getting to know herself through being exposed. Reasons that still today keep her searching on these paths.
Later on, she got deeper into the craft of this art, participating in the running of an independent theatre, Teatro Montalvo de Cercedilla, where she developed ritual and poetic work and got to perform with professional flamenco dancers.
In 2023 she graduated from the Escuela de Mimo y teatro físico Nouveau Colombier in Spain, after 3 years of corporal mime, physical and imaginary training, mask craft and performance, clown work, pantomime, Commedia dell'Arte and jesters. She started to get used to the stage and the street performing with works of her own. Her last piece, "Letargo", involves spoken poetry, mime and dance.
Physical theatre brought dance with it, its distance from reality opened a window for abstraction, movement, dance. It came naturally to her as improvisational and became bigger and bigger.
She started taking contemporary dance classes with Babirusa Danza, Dana Raz... until she got into Oficina Zero in Portugal to engage with the dance world and go deep into something new but old (because dancing it's always been deep inside) about her.
Sofia Vide Alves began her dance journey at the age of 4, developing a deep passion for this art form that continues to inspire her to this day. Now 18 years old, she has gained extensive experience in various styles, ranging from classical ballet to contemporary dance. Over the years, Sofia has participated in numerous performances and competitions, refining her technique and stage presence.
She pursued a specialised dance education program, combining regular academic studies with dance classes, until the 10th grade in Conservatório de Dança do Norte from São João da Madeira. However, she decided to take a gap year to embark on an exchange program in the United States in 2023, where she stopped dancing. Last year she came back and spent a year finishing high school while dancing at All About Dance Academy in Santa Maria da Feira during which she got to experiment a lot of different dance styles and participate in an internship in a project on Teatro Municipal do Porto “A Night in the Belly of the Beast”.
Beyond dance, Sofia has always been deeply involved in the arts in a self-taught manner. She has explored acting, singing, learning various instruments, as well as painting and drawing.
And now in Officina Zero, with a creative and sensitive approach, Sofia is committed to continuous growth, pushing the limits of her body and using dance as a unique form of expression and communication.
Taxiarchoula / Taxia Spanou is 24 years old, coming from Athens, Greece.
She holds a bachelor's degree in Social Work and has spent few years working in the field, driven by her passion for human rights advocacy and the empowerment of vulnerable communities. For her, dance has been a source of healing, helping her navigate difficult times while finding hope and courage. She aspires to merge social work and dance into a transformative practice as a dance therapist.
From a young age, she was immersed in artistic activities such as drawing, crafting, writing, singing, and most prominently, theatre. Her deepest passion, however, has always been dance. At 15, she began her ballet training, which she pursued for nearly four years. Over the last four years, she has dedicated herself to contemporary dance, practising under various teachers/artists. She has participated in several amateur-level performances, primarily in theatre, and in recent years, has also expanded into dance.
Curious by nature, she enjoys exploring a variety of activities, which is why she loves attending festivals. Over the years, she has experimented with aerial dance, Pilates, and yoga, recently with jazz, broadening her artistic and physical expression.
She has also taken part in Erasmus trainings on social theatre, non-violent communication, and contact improvisation—valuable tools she integrates into her practice. She envisions using dance as a vehicle for social change, blending her skills in dance and social work to become a "social dancer worker."
Through the Oficina Zero program, Taxia seeks to further develop her performance and improvisation skills as part of a dedicated dance team, committed to both personal growth and artistic expression.
Montserrat Marín Luengo, 23 years old, was born in La Serena, Chile. Her athletic career began at the age of 5 when she started practising rhythmic gymnastics, a discipline she pursued for over 13 years, reaching the level of elite athlete. Throughout her career, she represented Chile in various national and international tournaments.
Simultaneously, Montserrat trained in ballet under the Royal Academy of Dance method, obtaining certifications in Grades 2 and 3.
At the age of 19, she decided to expand her artistic horizons and enrolled in the National Circus Institute in Portugal. She moved to Portugal to complete a two-year professional program in circus and performing arts. During this course, she specialised in acrodance as her main technique, while also receiving training in acrobatics, handstands, juggling, theatre, dance, and participating in creative workshops. During this period, Montserrat participated in three group projects using different circus techniques, as well as completing three self-created projects based on acrodance.
She is currently involved in the creation of the project “Playground,” which premiered on September 18th at the Lis River in Leiria, in collaboration with Teatro de Leiria. At the same time, she is part of the training program at Oficina Zero for the 2024-2025 season.
Marco Gomes, known professionally as Rapha, is a contemporary dancer and performer based in Porto, Portugal.
He began his artistic education at ACE Escola de Artes, studying Set Design, Costumes, and Props. However, he transitioned to the Professional School of Balleteatro, where he completed a three-year program in Contemporary Dance.
Rapha has performed as a dancer in a wide range of productions. He worked as a dancer in Elisabete Magalhães’ “A Imprevisibilidade das Coisas”, Jorge Gonçalves’ “Amarga”, Deeogo Momentum’s “A Coragem de Ser Eu”, Beatriz Valentim’s “Vinte e Nove”, Raquel Rua’s “Abraço”, Diogo Santos’ “Extrait de Pondus”, and Peter Handke’s “A Hora em Que Não Sabíamos Nada Uns dos Outros”, under the direction of the renowned Olga Roriz.
As a performer, Rapha is also a core member of SKUM, a collective active in Porto’s queer club scene. His involvement in SKUM allows him to explore performance art beyond the stage, engaging with themes of identity, diversity, and queer culture through dance and movement. In 2024, Rapha made his choreographic debut with his original work, “Metamorfose Efémera”, which premiered at TECA on July 12, 2024.
Romain De Raymond
Sophia Dias
Neena Dhillon
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