Débora Oliveira

foto: Daniel Reinoso

I have been dedicated to Dance for 20+ years,
in a professional practice that ranges between artistic creation,
movement teaching and rehabilitation

I hold a Master's degree in Dance in the research line "Poetics and Interfaces of Dance" in the Postgraduate Program in Dance by Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (PPGDan/UFRJ, 2023) and graduated in Communication of Body Arts - Dance by Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC/SP, 2015). My qualifications include the training in Eutony by Instituto Brasileiro de Eutonia (IBE, 2015) and the certification as Horseback Therapist by Associação Nacional de Equoterapia (ANDE-Brasil, 2021).

I have studied Dance Improvisation with Brazilian choreographer and teacher Zélia Monteiro (2013-2018), Eutony with eutonists such as Luciana Gandolfo and Patrícia Pernambuco, and significant workshops and courses with teachers such as Jörg Hassman (GER), Katja Mustonen (FIN), Monika Gallardo (ESP), JoAnna Mendl Shaw (USA), Javi Sanhueza (CHI), Katie Duck (USA/HOL), Isabel Tica Lemos (BRA), Sofia Neuparth (POR), Rubiane Maia (BRA), Samira Br (BRA), São Yantó (BRA), Juliana Moraes (BRA), Scottish Dance Theatre (SCO), Maristela Estrela (BRA), Marcela Reichelt (BRA) and Amiris Marcon (BRA). I have been involved with Contact Improvisation since 2014, and the jams are the core of my practice.

I am engaged in topics such as somatic approaches to movement, site-specific settings, participatory works, relationality and historical activism.

By linking creative exploration of movement to the somatic modulation of muscle tone through the practice of Eutony, I collaborate with educational and rehabilitation institutions with a singular approach.

I have worked in schools, studios, cultural centres, clinics, third sector organisations, government projects, and horseback therapy centres. I have experience in the treatment of children, adolescents, young people and adults with neuromotor and cognitive limitations.

Somáticas

Workshop teórico e prático sobre as somáticas, perspectivas históricas e abordagens contemporâneas

Programs

I create dances in partnership with other artists (in productions such as campo gestuário - with Marina Dubia, Minha casa não está pronta - with Hugo Leonardo da Silva, Amor Fati - with Dani Greco, and with Coletivo TraçaUrbana), solos (in depois da primeira, Emergência and Pergunte aos dinossauros) and participatory dances (in pausar respirar mover and Jams Itinerantes).

In the format of thematic projects, I create dance and other media artworks under a guiding theme for an extended period. The project SP Brutalista was carried out between 2015 and 2018 and it consisted of a series of 7 actions produced as a manifesto against the gentrification of the city of São Paulo.

From 2018 onwards, I've been developing the project Transforming Body into Dance, in which I explore the transformation of everyday life topics into dance experiences.

In the first season, I transformed housing into dance. Between December 2018 and August 2020, I lived in ateliers, artistic residencies and communities of artists in Brazil and Europe. Throughout these experiences, I produced solo and participatory dances, installations, classes, jams, interviews and talk circles.

In the second season, I am transforming work into dance. For this season, I have two references. The first reference is the professional biography of Gerda Alexander, creator of Eutony. Topics such as historical activism, symbolic annihilation of women, production of knowledge in the arts and archival practices were addressed through the Master's programm in Dance by PPGDan/UFRJ (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2021-2023), developed in partnership with eutonists, translators and related researchers from Brazil, Germany, Denmark, Argentina and Luxembourg. I am currently offering online lectures on related topics. The second reference is interspecies movement. Topics such as the mirroring between animal and employee welfare, anthropocentrism, motor reabilitation between species, labor rights, power harassment, nonhuman-oriented practices, among others, have been developed through interviews, classes, lectures, audiovisual artworks and the Instagram account @InterspeciesSomatics.

I had discovered Dance as language when I was still a teenager. From the start, I was dancing in large groups, performing on the road, reading about dance in public libraries. I'm Brazilian, born and raised in São Paulo, and I learned how to dance in the city's public cultural centres. I received several public and private scholarships throughout my intellectual career. The transition to a professional dedication to dance grew naturally, but not without resistance. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Dance and the certification in Eutony, and I have concluded both simultaneously in 2015. By weaving contemporary dance and somatic approaches to movement, my dance manifests in festive, social and therapeutic perspectives of movement. My interest in the indissociability of art and science has been growing in both theory and practice, deeply inspired by the trajectory of Gerda Alexander, the creator of Eutony. Animals have crossed my path during the COVID-19 pandemic as partners to be able to keep moving. As I dance, I learn ways of being a body in the world. A body that is not restricted to me, to my peers, to my species, to my knowledge, but which is constituted by dancing in so many relationships.

Débora Oliveira Online 2025

Débora Oliveira

I have been dedicated to Dance for 20+ years, in a professional practice that ranges between artistic creation, movement teaching and rehabilitation

I have been dedicated to Dance for 20+ years,
in a professional practice that ranges between artistic creation,
movement teaching and rehabilitation