Bio

Alessandra is an Afro-Brazilian Dancer, Capoeira performer and instructor from Salvador, Bahia - home to the largest African diaspora population and of Afro-Brazilian culture. Since moving to Ireland in 2015 she has championed her culture by setting up a performance group and a Capoeira group. Alessandra arrived with no English and developed her dance practise while cleaning in both Trinity College and John Scottus school. She went on to study a course at Trinity and to teach Capoeira at John Scottus. From 2018 she established herself as a leading Afro-Brazilian dancer with notable performances at major festivals and stages with her dance group Criola Dance. She has worked with Catherine Young, featuring as performer in her work with The Welcoming Project at Abbey Theatre in 2018 and at the Big Bang Festival. In 2021 she was awarded an Arts Council Bursary to develop her artistic practice through mentorship with key Afro-Brazilian practitioners and with Catherine Young and Lou Cope. Currently working with Justine Doswell and John Scott, as well as teaching Capoeira and Afro-Brazilian dance sessions for Dublin City Council, Alessandra is driven by the potential of her heritage to lead cross-cultural collaborations. Her practice here has led to establishing connections between Afro-Brazilian dance, women’s groups, and immigrant and minority communities. Her vision is to continue this work by developing her skills as a performer, facilitator and ambassador for Afro-Brazilian dance and cross-cultural growth. 

Project

I was selected with my colleagues in CREATION 21/22, a truly unique programme which was created for performing artists at all stages of their careers and across a range of disciplines (dance, theatre, circus, spectacle, performance art, street arts), to develop their practice, network, learn and showcase work. It will include in-person collaboration opportunities in Ireland, as well an international residency in 2022 The project offers artistic development opportunities through mentoring, coaching, residencies and ‘in-progress’ presentation opportunities as part of Carlow Arts Festival, Dublin Dance Festival, National Circus Festival and Danseur Festival. This project is an opportunity to deeply collaborate with artists from various performing art forms and areas of experience. This residency is specifically focussed on performing artists in the East and Southeast region of Ireland, as well as European partners. It will be designed hand in hand with makers from the Theatre, Dance, and Circus/Street Art/Spectacle worlds to ensure it is delivering to the participating artists what they need at this time. The project is flexible and will focuses on creating space to support artists in the ways they currently need.