In the favelas of Rio, the next generation in contemporary dance is emerging

Callysta Croizer

In Maré, a large favela in Rio de Janeiro, the Free Dance School offers classes to non-professionals and professionals alike. CN D Magazine went to meet Núcleo 2, the school’s group of pre-professional dancers, which is closely linked to choreographer Lia Rodrigues’ company, located on the same premises. They talk about their exchanges with France as part of the Brazil-France Season, a learning ground and mirror of persisting inequalities.

Rio de Janeiro, mid-August. A stone’s throw from a highway exit and at the entrance to the Maré favela, home to nearly 140,000 people, a huge warehouse is hosting a peaceful yoga class. Choreographer Lia Rodrigues has shaped this extraordinary space with its porous boundaries in her own image. In 2011, already internationally renowned in the world of contemporary dance, the Brazilian activist artist shifted her focus locally by moving her Companhia de Danças (LRCD) from the affluent neighborhoods of the “Zona Sul” to the periferia, the northern outskirts of Rio. 

This choice marked a turning point in her career, not only geographically but also artistically: at the invitation of professor and playwright Silvia Soter, Rodrigues joined forces with the civil society organization Redes da Maré to create the Escola Livre de Dança da Maré (Free Dance School of Maré, ELDM). Continuing a project first launched in 2004, the new educational structure cohabits with the professional company, articulating two “nuclei” of training: Núcleo 1, open to all audiences, and Núcleo 2, a troupe developed in close collaboration with the Companhia de Danças, in which aspiring professionals must apply and audition to be admitted. 

Neither the number of students nor the non-degree status of this second group is fixed. However, the quality of its teaching in contemporary, classical, Afro-Brazilian, and urban dance is internationally recognized. The influence of the Free Dance School of Maré across the Atlantic, reinforced by the Companhia de Danças and Rodrigues’ professional network, has borne new fruit within the Brazil-France Season. 

In June 2025, four students from Núcleo 2 visited the National Center for Contemporary Dance (Cndc) in Angers for a week of classes, workshops, and performances. “It was much more intense than I expected, both in terms of learning and human interaction and new references,” says Bento Dias. His classmates Michelly Silva, Dinara Carneiro, and Arô Canazart agree. After this first step in Angers, exchanges between the students from the two schools continued during a week in Lyon to attend Camping, a festival for international art students organized by the CN D. 

For the four students, this first trip outside Brazil strengthened cohesion and mutual trust within the “core group.” Beyond the benefits of living together, they unanimously appreciated the “immersive” and “intense” character of the Cndc, which offered them the opportunity to take dance classes and teach one to students in Angers. Karol Silva, who accompanied the quartet, had already had two experiences in France with the Free School in 2017 and 2018—the year in which French choreographer Maguy Marin passed on May B, the crown jewel of her repertoire, to the group of students from Rio. 

More broadly, the Brazilian group points out that between France and Brazil, “the difference [in terms of cultural structures] is striking.” While Dias highlights the quality of the facilities dedicated to dance at the Cndc, Michelly Silva recalls that “after class, the four students were able to go to the theater at a very affordable price,” something that is far less accessible in their daily lives in Rio de Janeiro.

Conversely, Canazart notes that most students in Núcleo 2 “already have a job” during the day and “attend dance school in the evening,” where the training is “not very structured.” Although the Free School classes are of high quality—several young artists have already been accepted into renowned dance schools, including P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels—they require steady attendance from Monday to Friday afternoon, supported by a scholarship of around 800 reais (less than half the Brazilian minimum wage). 

Beyond these economic disparities with France, the dance market in Brazil is marked by internal inequalities. “There are many very good artists here, but not enough structures to support them all,” explains Michelly Silva. Given the fragility of public support, trips abroad for Brazilian artists remain rare and precarious. “When we applied for funding, we received a quarter of the amount requested,” adds Silvia Soter, referring to the four students’ trip to Angers and Lyon. The school’s budget is largely financed by “partnerships with Redes da Maré and the Hermès Corporate Foundation,” continues the educational director. 

The gap is the same for a second Núcleo 2 quartet, which is preparing for a residency at the Manufacture de Bordeaux choreographic development center. Conversely, the imbalance of the exchange is also striking, since the Cndc will send not eight but twenty students to the school in November. While on the western side of the Atlantic the paths to professionalization in dance remain narrow, Núcleo 2 oscillates between Brazil and France like a free but unstable electron, in a virtuous—but still two-speed—race. 

Callysta Croizer is a doctoral candidate in history at Paris 8 University, affiliated with the IFG Lab and MUSIDANSE research centers. A former student of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS-PSL), her research—supported by the French Embassy in Brazil through the REFEB mobility grant—focuses on the construction of Ballet in Brazil in the second half of the twentieth century. Since 2023, she has been writing theater and dance criticism for Les Échos, Mouvement, and Springback Magazine, an international English-language platform for contemporary dance initiated by Aerowaves.

Douglas Lopes is a photographer and visual artist from Maré, Rio de Janeiro. His work portrays the everyday life of favelas, interweaving art, memory, and human rights. He served as Director of Photography for “Marielle – The Documentary” (Globoplay), an award-winning film presented at the Berlinale. He has also produced work for institutions such as Fiocruz, USP, The Intercept, NESsT & IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, and The Climate Reality Project. His artworks are part of private and institutional collections and have been exhibited in Brazil and across Europe.

Brésil-France Season 2025
More information 

Borda
Choreography: Lia Rodrigues 
from January 26th to 27th
at the Cndc, Angers

Bruits Marrons
Choreography: Calixto Neto
October 7th and 8th
at the Points communs, Théâtre 95, Cergy
from November 19th to 21st
at the MC93, Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis
as a part of plan D and Festival d’Automne à Paris 2025

OUTRAR
Choreography: Volmir Cordeiro
December 12th
at the Hall Tropisme, Montpellier
as a part of Mouvements sur la Ville

Isabelle Launay and Silvia Soter
La Passion des possibles, Lia Rodrigues, 30 ans de compagnie
Editions CND et éditions de l’Attribut, 2021
More information