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Bruno Beltrão was born in Niterói, near Rio de Janeiro, in 1979.
In 1993 he began his first street dance lessons, in Niterói,
with the Israeli teacher Yoram Szabo. From 1995 on, he engaged
in a research to get thoroughly acquainted with this dance
style, still quite unheard of in Brazil.
In 1996 he created the company, Grupo de Rua de Niterói, with
his partner Rodrigo Bernardi. During its first two years, the
company was devoted to competitive dance festivals and special
appearances in several events and TV shows. In 2000 GRN
participated in the international tour of "Metrópole" with the
Midnight Circus, from the French director Pierrot Bidon. This
was also the year when Beltrão enrolled in the dance university
In 2001 the duet "Do Popping ao Pop ou Vice-Versa" premiered
at the festival "Duos de Dança no SESC", in Rio de Janeiro. With
this piece Beltrão made his official début in the contemporary
dance scene in Rio. It was also a turning point on the
choreographer’s career – the first step to set streetdance free
from sheer virtuosity and from the patterned reproduction of
choreographic structures that are inherent to this dance form.
Since then his research is oriented by the exchange between hip
hop and the reflexive and inventive environment of contemporary
dance. At the end of the year Beltrão assumed the sole direction
of Grupo de Rua when his partner Rodrigo left the company to
develop his own projects.
Grupo de Rua started touring internationally in 2002, with
presentations at Rencotres Choreographiques de
Seine-Saint-Denis, MC93 in Paris and the festival “Danças na
Cidade" in Lisbon. In 2003, the company was invited by the
French choreographer Jérôme Bel to perform at Klapstuk Festival
in Belgium. In the same year, the company performed at
Springdance (Utrecht), Ile Danse (Ajaccio), Tanz im August
(Berlin) Internationales Tanzfest (Hanover), Yokohama Dance
Summit (Japan), Hebbel Theater (Berlin) and Opkomst (Utrecht).
The company has also performed at La Ferme du Buisson (Noisiel),
Kunsten Festival des Arts (Brussels), Ruhrfestspiele
(Recklinghausen), Tanztage (Bern), CSS Theater (Udine),
Rencontres de la Villete (Paris), Kampnagel (Hamburg) and at the
Festival Breakin’Walls (Amsterdam).
Besides his creative work as a choreographer, Beltrão also
works in many other different spheres to promote street dance,
whether working as a curator or taking part on social programs.
He has also written the essay Breakdance: Fissão e a Reação em
cadeia for the book Lições de Dança 2, published by Beltrão’s
university, UniverCidade.
In 2002, Beltrão was selected Upcoming Choreographer of the
Year and the company is considered “one of the most creative of
the new generation” by O GLOBO (second largest Brazilian
newspaper). BATTETANZ YEARBOOK selected him Upcoming
Choreographer of the Year in 2005.
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