Lia Rodrigues
(São Paulo, Brazil, 1956) Choreographer. She studied classical ballet and history in São Paulo. From 1980 to 1982, she was a dancer in the Compagnie Maguy Marin in France. When she returned to Rio de Janeiro, in 1990, she founded the Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças and, in 1992, the Panorama Festival—the most important venue for contemporary dance in Brazil—which she directed for fourteen years. Since 2004, her Company is based in Rio de Janeiro’s favela da Maré, where she has been involved in developing educational and artistic activities in partnership with the non-governmental organization Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré. Also in this favela, they opened in 2009 the Centro de Artes da Maré, and in 2011, the Escola Livre de Dança da Maré [Free Dance School of Maré]. The artistic pieces that she develops with her Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças, which are shown at renowned festivals and theatres around the world, often have a social and socio-critical charge. She was awarded by the French government with the medal of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2016, with the SACD Price for Choreography; and in the Netherlands, with the Prince Claus Award in 2014. In 2020, she was named Choreographer of the Year in Germany and France.
