Lia Rodrigues

Born in São Paulo in 1956, Lia Rodrigues is a choreographer and director of a Brazilian dance company. In the 1980s, she created Grupo Andança and left for Europe, where she met Maguy Marin and joined the Ballet Théâtre de l’Arche. Upon returning to Brazil in 1990, she created the company Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças, whose mission is to develop social links between the inhabitants of the favelas and the city's more affluent populations. In 1992, she created the Panorama Festival, Rio de Janeiro's most important dance festival, and served as its director for 14 years. With the help of the REDES association, in 2009 the Centro de Artes da Maré opened to the public, with the aim of promoting artistic creation and training. Blending activism and utopianism, she believes in the synergy between art and social processes. Today, Lia Rodrigues is an Associate Artist at Chaillot - Théâtre National de la Danse and Centquatre-Paris.