RAFAEL ALVAREZ (Lisbon, 1976)
Choreographer and dancer, set and costume designer, researcher and teacher. His choreographic work has been presented since 1997 in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, United States of America, Dubai, Egypt, Cape Vert, São Tomé and Príncipe, Japan, China, Thailand and Laos.
His choreographic language reveals a strong visual component, standing out for its enigmatic, poetic, and minimalist use of the body, dance, and space. From 2017 to the present, his work has engaged in a constant dialogue with different conceptual, visual, and imagistic themes and materials surrounding Japan, developing since then a series of research and artistic residency creation projects and regular presentations in Japan, the result of this in-depth research, establishing a creative bridge between Tokyo, Paris, and Lisbon. Resulting in the creation and touring of the pieces - “In the Range of a Wave” (2017), “Tthe Wave of Distance” (2018), “WAVE” (2018), “In the Silence of the First Wave” (2019), “Un Tsugi” (2021), “Fū Tsugi” (2021), “Tsugi” (2022), “Eko Tsugi” (2023) and “MONO-NO-AWARE” (2024-25).
He has invested extensively in the relationship between dance and the community, and in the collaborative dimension of artistic practice, fostering dialogue and intervention with the world. Since 1998, he has taught Contemporary Dance and Inclusive Dance, developing projects and programs for artistic training and mediation in dance, involving students, amateurs and professionals in dance, people with disabilities/functional diversity, people over 55 and the elderly, people with Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, and artists in general.
Founder and coordinator of the Contemporary Dance for 55plus® project, which celebrates in 2026, 25 years of regular activities in Lisbon, and 10 years of activities in Paris. Currently offering weekly classes in Lisbon (since 2001) and monthly labs in Almada (since 2022) and in Paris (since 2016).
He conceived and directed the inclusive contemporary dance pilot project - TSUGI PORTO, promoting an artistic intervention program for institutionalized seniors, with over 185 weekly contemporary dance classes, implemented free of charge in five residential support structures for the elderly (nursing homes and day centers) in the Porto district (2021-2023), involving over 175 participants aged between 65 and 100+ years.
Teacher and artistic coordinator of the Plural Inclusive Dance Company of the LIGA Foundation (since 1998). Teacher in the Dancing with Parkinson's/Dance for PD - Portugal Project (since 2014). He has taught Improvisation/Composition at FOR Dance Theatre Training Program/Olga Roriz Dance Company (2017-21). He was a lecturer at the Leiria Higher School of Education (2004-05). Invited Professor in the Master's Program in Choreographic Creation and Professional Practices at the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute's Higher School of Dance (2021-26).
PhD in Communication, Culture and Art - Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, UALG. Postgraduate degree in Communication Sciences – Contemporary Culture, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Nova University of Lisbon. Trained in Stage Design and in Theatre and Education, Higher School of Theatre and Cinema (Lisbon). He was a dance scholarship holder at the National Centre for Culture (2000-2002). Certified teacher of the Dance for PD®/Dance for Parkinson's Method, Mark Morris Dance Company Program (2014, New York).
He was an integrated researcher at CHAIA – Centre for Art History and Artistic Research/University of Évora (2018-22). As a dancer and performer, he has performed in shows and projects directed by choreographers Francisco Camacho/EIRA (Portugal), Christian Rizzo (France), Lynda Gaudreau/Lucky Bastards (CN/FR) and director Luís Castro/Karnart, among others.
He was an artist supported by O Rumo do Fumo (2000-04) and an associate artist of EIRA – Contemporary Dance and Performance (2005-2016). He was part of the EIRA production team (2005-2012) and the coordination/production teams of the European projects Contact'Art and EU-Dance, both promoted by the LIGA Foundation (Culture 2000 Program). He was part of the European research and creation project of performance and technologies A.D.A.P.T Advancing Digital Art Performance Techniques (2011, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, France, Belgium). He was a guest artist at the first edition of the CoLaboratório project - Meeting of Choreographers from South America and Europe (EU Culture Program / Panorama Festival), held in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Fortaleza (2006-07).
In addition to his work as a choreographer and performer, since 1997 he has developed a professional career as a set and costume designer, having created sets, props, and costumes for theater and dance performances - Comuna Teatro de Pesquisa/João Mota (Medida por Medida), Grupo de Teatro os Satyros (A Última Valsa), Companhia de Teatro de Portalegre, EIRA/Francisco Camacho (GUST, GUST9723, Andiamo, Uma Coisa em Forma de Assim/CNB), Paula CASTRO, Sílvia Pinto Coelho, among others. He also designs most of the sets, props, and costumes for his own choreographic creations, notably the shows - Self-Service, T0, Bosque, Match Nulo, Fatigues, sweetSKIN, No Intervalo de Uma Onda, Na Onda da Distância, Mixed Feelings, MONO-NO-AWARE, among others.
He conceived and curated the visual arts exhibition “Under” (Casa dos Dias da Água) and the photography exhibition “In the Range of a Wave” (Livraria Palavra de Viajante, Auditorio Municipal Augusto Cabrita, Teatro Diogo Bernardes, Carpintarias de São Lázaro, Galeria Imago), and also participated in collective exhibitions and shows of visual arts and photography. He conceived and edited the photography books “In the Range of a Wave” and “TSUGI Porto”, published by BODYBUILDERS.
Co-founder of ANKA Inclusive Dance Company of São Tomé and Príncipe. Founder and artistic director of BODYBUILDERS | Rafael Alvarez – Creation, Mediation and Dissemination of Contemporary Dance.
BODYBUILDERS | Rafael Alvarez is a research and artistic creation structure established in Lisbon in 2016, focusing on the dimensions of the body, contemporary dance, and choreographic language, at the intersection with other artistic and thought-action areas. Its activity is focused on the production and dissemination of the work of choreographer/performer Rafael Alvarez and his professional career spanning over 24 years, through a dynamic of partnerships and collaborations with other creators and other structures of creation, production, and programming in Portugal and internationally.
In addition to artistic creation and research, BODYBUILDERS invests deeply and continuously in the development of dialogue and exchange projects with broad audiences, bringing Contemporary Dance closer to the community, developing and training audiences, and providing artistic training. This involves people over 55 and the elderly, children and young people, people with disabilities/functional diversity, non-professionals, students of higher artistic and professional education, and artists in general, in training/creation activities directed by Rafael Alvarez and co-organized by his partners.
Since its inception, BODYBUILDERS has received occasional support and co-financing from the Directorate-General for the Arts/Ministry of Culture, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the GDA Foundation, the Camões Institute, the Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation, among others, for the realization of various creation and international circulation projects, in addition to having regular partnership agreements with the LIGA Foundation and the Higher School of Dance, among other entities.
BODYBUILDERS understands and promotes artistic practice and experimentation as a plural space for intervention, reflection, and questioning, focusing on an aesthetic, ethical, and political dimension of the body as an element of transformation/interpellation of the world, an agent of change in paradigms and realities.
BODYBUILDERS – body in construction, body in dialogue.
BODYBUILDERS is a resident structure at Palácio Pancas Palha/Companhia Olga Roriz.