Isabel Barros

Isabel Barros, throughout her career, has developed work as a choreographer, interpreter, programmer and trainer. She was born in Porto and is a member of the board of directors of Balleteatro which she founded. After her initial training in classical dance with Ruth Howner she held several courses in contemporary dance and composition in Paris, where she lived and studied. She took part in several seminars led by Gisèle Barret and Pierre Voltz at Institut d’Etudes Théâtrales – Paris III. In 1996, in Berlin, she took an internship with Susanne Linke where she developed solo performance work. She studied theatre and completed a degree in Theatre at Escola Superior Artística do Porto. Since 1992 she has regularly presented her works, in particular, Sobressaltos in-de-gestos, Os vestidos que eu lhes emprestei já não são meus (1993), 3ª Estação, with João Paulo Seara Cardoso (1994), Perigo de Explosão (1995), Elétrica (1996), Máquina-Hamlet, with João Paulo Seara Cardoso (1997) and Screen 24 fraturas expostas (1997), Acidente de Automóvel Cor de Laranja 10 Vezes (1998), Delete (1999) e Quarto Escuro (2001). In co-production with Teatro Nacional S. João, she presented Pó, from the history of Romeo and Juliet, inserted in the Icones program (2002). In a co-production with Rivoli Teatro Municipal, she presented Là où je dors (2002) and Olivia (2004), Alugo-me para sonhar (2007) and Alice do Outro Lado do Espelho (2007) They are inserted in the thematic developed in other creations, that is, the space of the dream like greater place. In 2008, she was invited by the company Movimento Incriativo for whom she creates A Visita do Rinoceronte. Na minha parede escarlate retratos, a co-production with Teatro Constantino Nery, is her latest creation. In her performances she had the collaboration of several artists such as Pedro Tudela, Albuquerque Mendes, Carlos Guedes, Jonathan Saldanha, Teresa Branco, Regina Guimarães, Jorge Costa, Helena Medeiros, Daniel Worm d’Assumpção, Nuno Meira, Nuno Gama, João Paulo Seara Cardoso, Roberto Neulichedl, André Cepeda. She has been a regular contributor to Marionetas do Porto since 1994, with movement and choreography, in the performances: Joanica-Puff, IP5, Óscar, Macbeth, Paisagem Azul com Automóveis, O Mundo de Alex, Como um Carrossel à volta do Sol, Cabaret Molotov, Boca de Cena Teatro Jantar, Wonderland, Cinderela and Make Love not War. She also performed choreographic direction of the performance O Lobo Diogo e o Mosquito Valentim, directed by João Paulo Seara Cardoso and performed at Casa da Música in Porto. As programmer, she conceived several cycles of dance, theatre and music performances for Balleteatro Auditório, giving priority to transversal and alternative formats and dedicating moments to emerging creators. She was awarded the Almada prize (1999), attributed to Balleteatro, as a distinction for the work carried out at the programming level. Related to this activity she has collaborated with several national and international networks and is a member of the artistic council Les Repérages / Danse à Lille. Since 1999, as a member of the council she is responsible for choosing Portuguese choreographers, or residents in Portugal, to present their projects at this Young Choreography Festival. Since 1991, when she began a study on the representations of the Body in Dance and Theatre, she runs training workshops at that level. In 2003 she conceived a project for children, “balleatrinho”, that has since been extended to various communities and places. She is a teacher at Balleteatro, at Escola Superior Artística do Porto and at Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho and a guest teacher at other institutions. She is responsible for the coordination of various artistic projects of a social nature. She received the 1st Giros prize – Arts Festival, an APNA event, New Artists Promotion Association, for her work with dancers, actors, musicians and a group of people with disabilities, in a collaboration between Balleteatro and the Regional Center of Paralysis of the North. In 2008 she released her first book, Quando é que chegamos?, especially aimed at children. She has been the artistic director of Marionetas do Porto and Museu das Marionetas do Porto since November 2010.

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