Tell us about your dance journey. And when did you decide to make dance your professional career?
I started dancing in the 70s during the Disco era. I only got in touch with Ballet in 1981, when I was 21 years old. I watched Michael Baryschikov in Brasilia, the city where I grew up. I immediately saw that this was what I wanted to do in life. I studied for 2 years in Brasilia, in 1983 I moved to Rio de Janeiro, I worked at TV Manchete and in 1984 I was hired for the Ballet Corps of the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro. 2 years later I represented Brazil in the International Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. In 1987, I was promoted, together with my wife and dancer Carla Silva, to become solo dancer at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro. 6 months later we risked coming to Europe. We started in Vienna, then Amsterdam. In 1988 we started dance in St. Gallen, Swizerland. In 1992 I was hired by the Zurich Ballet.
From 1993, I began my career as Ballet Director and Head of Choreography, first Bremerhaven, followed by Chemnitz, Pforzheim, Regrensburg, Hagen and currently since 2017 I have continued in these two positions at the head of Ballet Augsburg.
Tell us about your experiences as a director in the dance companies/theaters
The position of Artistic Director of a Dance company is full of responsibilities that go far beyond choreographing. It's something that I take very seriously because we face human beings every day, with all their good and bad characteristics. A person has to live this experience to be able to really understand what happens inside dance in German theaters.
Tell us more about your ensemble in Staatstheater Augsburg.
The Augsburg Ballet is made up of 18 Dancers, a Deputy Director and Choreography Assistant Carla Silva, a Ballet Master and choreography assistant Demis Moretti, a Music Supervisor Wesley D´Alessandro and a Pianist. We receive every year, several Guests Choreographers as well Ballet Masters, which in my opinion it is very important to develop and give a better career opportunity for the dancers. This is my seventh season working at Ballet Augsburg as Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer. In these first 7 years, we have built an audience that is extremely loyal to our Company, our shows are practically completely sold out throughout the season. This is a source of great pride for me because it was a huge risk to leave Hagen Ballet after having built something so solid and highly successful, to try everything again in Augsburg.
Tell us about your most recent creation.
My most recent creation is the Ballet Charlie, a tribute to the great artist Charlie Chaplin. This production is bringing us immense pleasure because the public response is something that I cannot put into words. It's simply exciting to see what happens every night. Next year we are going in tour with Charlie.
Tell us about a creation that makes you proud.
Honestly, I can't point to a work of mine that makes or has made me proud. I put my all into everything I do without thinking twice, for me it's all or nothing. Luckily everything has worked out pretty well so far and hopefully will continue like that.
How do you get inspiration for your creations?
To get inspired, I first look for a topic that might be relevant and has a story, if possible. I really see how audiences relate to shows better when we give them a story to follow. This also helps a lot in the maturation of my dancers. Then I'll listen to a lot of music until it's clear what I want to say and how I want that everyone moves.
Tell us about the biggest challenge you've faced as a choreographer in your career.
The biggest battle in my career was to keep the Ballet hagen alive. That was definitely the hardest moment of my career, I fought with many people on my side for almost 15 years and fortunately we won!
What advice would you give to aspiring dancers?
What to advise young dancers and young choreographers nowadays is very difficult because if the advice was something we could make money from, I could already be rich. I can only appeal to young dancers to prepare better in the schools where they study before entering the theater. Theater is definitely something very special, but very difficult.
What are your future projects?
I won't be able to talk about all of my upcoming projects as the next season 2024-2025 hasn't been announced yet. I can say that my first creation for the 2024-2025 season will be about an Iconic figure that I respect a lot and that I'm sure will bring us a lot of pleasure in producing. but I have something that I think is of utmost importance and that will be our first trip to Canada this season in June 2023. Extremely exciting.
What do you like to do when you're not working?
When I'm free I like to enjoy time with my wife Carla Silva. We go for walks, we go to new places, we drink braunch, we go to see shows from other companies. I also like to enjoy my home, just letting time pass because we don't have this luxury very often.
Photo Credits:
Portraits by Lorenzo Gallo
Charlie, Choreography Ricardo Fernando,Photo by Jan-Peter Fuhr
Beyond, choreography Ricardo Fernando, Photo by Jan-Peter Fuhr.