Instructors in Collaboration:
Rosangela Silvestre Choreographer, instructor, dancer and creator of the Silvestre Dance Technique, Rosangela is a native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, where she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Dance and post-graduated specializing in choreography, achieving her degree from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). She has researched dance and music in Brazil, India, Egypt, Senegal and Cuba as part of her ever-evolving and eclectic palette of movement. She acquired training in such diverse techniques as: Martha Graham, Limón, Horton, Floor Bar, Classic Ballet, Dunham Technique, and has experienced diverse dance expressions - such as Germany Theater Dance, Contemporary, Folkloric, as well as Traditional dances of Africa and other continents. Her instructors include Raimundo Bispo dos Santos (Mestre King), Mercedes Baptista, Clayde Morgan, Carlos Moraes, Nelma Seixas, among others, beginning in the late 1970s. Since 1981, Ms. Silvestre started to travel in and out of Brazil to teach, to train dancers, to perform, to lecture and to demonstrate, to consult, and attended seminars and residencies in diverse universities, dance festivals such as: Colorado College Dance Festival;
New Orleans Dance Festival; and dance camps such as the California Brazil Camp each year. She choreographed numerous dance pieces for companies based in Brazil - Balé Folclórico da Bahia and Odunde - as well as Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico Repertory Company, American Academy of Ballet, Roots of Brazil, Dance Brazil, Viver Brasil, Muntu Dance Theater, and the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Company. Her dance investigation and constant development created an opportunity to connect with the eclectic American musician Steve Coleman, with whom she traveled to diverse countries which have African roots in their music and dance. With Steve Coleman, Rosangela developed an idea to have the body as an instrument that provides the movement-form of any sound that can be captured - thereby discovering and creating dance at any moment.
Rosangela's use of her voice is an integral part of her work in dance. In September 2011 she completed the CD:
"Voices of Nature" recorded and produced by Mike Zecchino at The Nail Recording Studio in Tucson, Arizona.
Visit CD BABY to listen and purchase.
New Orleans Dance Festival; and dance camps such as the California Brazil Camp each year. She choreographed numerous dance pieces for companies based in Brazil - Balé Folclórico da Bahia and Odunde - as well as Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico Repertory Company, American Academy of Ballet, Roots of Brazil, Dance Brazil, Viver Brasil, Muntu Dance Theater, and the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Company. Her dance investigation and constant development created an opportunity to connect with the eclectic American musician Steve Coleman, with whom she traveled to diverse countries which have African roots in their music and dance. With Steve Coleman, Rosangela developed an idea to have the body as an instrument that provides the movement-form of any sound that can be captured - thereby discovering and creating dance at any moment.
Rosangela's use of her voice is an integral part of her work in dance. In September 2011 she completed the CD:
"Voices of Nature" recorded and produced by Mike Zecchino at The Nail Recording Studio in Tucson, Arizona.
Visit CD BABY to listen and purchase.
Vera Passos
is a instructor, choreographer and accomplished dancer. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Dance from the University Federal of Bahia. She starting her training with modern dance in Salvador, Bahia, and became involved with other forms of dance - such as Classical Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary and Traditional dance. Through these, she came into contact with the dance company, Balé Folclórico da Bahia, and became a company member. Passos began studying the demanding Silvestre Technique with creator Rosangela Silvestre in 1992, and soon became the protégé of Silvestre. Since 2002, Ms. Passos has taught the technique at the Escola de Dança Cultural Foundation in Bahia, Brazil, in the preparatory dance program to both dancers-in-training, and to professional dance students. With her dance training experience, she began to teach and to train other dancers - which can be seen in professional dance companies, such as Ballet Theater of Castro Alves and Grupo Corpo. She is the director of Silvestre Link Bahia. She has performed in international venues in North and South America, Europe, and Africa. With Ms. Silvestre, Vera Passos participated in the collaborations with the eclectic American musician Steve Coleman on his tour of Europe in 2002 and 2003. She choreographed for Orchestra Popular da Bahia, directed by the pioneer ethnomusicologist Emilia Biancardi; for Tocandomblé, which produces experimental performances of Afro-Brazilian dance and music; and "Terra em Transe," with music by Italian musician Aldo Briddi. Ms. Passos also danced in the Opera, "Lidia de Oxum", choreographed by Carlos Morais. Vera is currently a special guest dancer with the acclaimed Viver Brasil Dance Company Directed by Linda Yudin and Luiz Badaró.
Deko Alves
Deko Alves began his artistic career in 2000, working for the main dance companies in the city of Salvador, such as Balé Folclórica, Sesc, Vila Dança and Cia de Dança Moderna Robson Correia. He is currently an Art Educator in Dance at the Santo Antônio Educational Center (CESA-OSID) and is graduating from the Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts Course at UFBA (Federal University of Bahia). Dancer and Choreographer, teacher of Silvestre Technique and Stiletto.
Deko Alves began his artistic career in 2000, working for the main dance companies in the city of Salvador, such as Balé Folclórica, Sesc, Vila Dança and Cia de Dança Moderna Robson Correia. He is currently an Art Educator in Dance at the Santo Antônio Educational Center (CESA-OSID) and is graduating from the Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts Course at UFBA (Federal University of Bahia). Dancer and Choreographer, teacher of Silvestre Technique and Stiletto.
Vanessa Oliveira
"Hello everything is fine? I'm Vanessa Oliveira, dancer and Physical Education professional, passionate about the body and its infinite ways of moving. For 8 years, dance and Physical Education provided me with a vast national and international experience, working with Physical Exercise programs, integrating dance shows and managing the corps de ballet at the company Magic Life! Currently, I am deepening my knowledge through studies of the Fascial System (Ana Outsubo, Juliana Otta, Fascial Fitness), training in the Classical Pilates Method (Active Pilates) and Silvestre Technique (Rosângela Silvestre and Vera Passos). It's almost 20 years of involvement in this universe of infinite discoveries that is the movement! I believe in the integrality of the movement and I have been experiencing this concept through the study of facias, the Silvestre Dance Technique and their similarities!"
Marcela Brasil
Dance Artist and Teacher of various body practices. PhD student in Education (UNEB) and Master in Dance (UFBA). Specialist in Art Education (EBA/UFBA), Physical Education and Sports (UNEB/UCSAL), Contemporary Studies in Dance (UFBA). As a ballerina she performed at Balé Teatro Castro Alves, with Cia. João Perene at Ateliê de Coreógrafos Baianos, with Cia Jorge Silva at Ópera Lídia de Oxum, among other national and international companies. She has experience in teaching Kinesiology for Dance, Classical Ballet, Floor Barre, Floor Pilates, Yoga and Silvestre Technique, among other possibilities.
Dance Artist and Teacher of various body practices. PhD student in Education (UNEB) and Master in Dance (UFBA). Specialist in Art Education (EBA/UFBA), Physical Education and Sports (UNEB/UCSAL), Contemporary Studies in Dance (UFBA). As a ballerina she performed at Balé Teatro Castro Alves, with Cia. João Perene at Ateliê de Coreógrafos Baianos, with Cia Jorge Silva at Ópera Lídia de Oxum, among other national and international companies. She has experience in teaching Kinesiology for Dance, Classical Ballet, Floor Barre, Floor Pilates, Yoga and Silvestre Technique, among other possibilities.
Tâmara Williams
Assistant Professor, UNCC, earned her M.F.A. from Hollins University. Her choreography has been presented internationally in Serbia, Switzerland, Trinidad, Jamaica, Mexico and Brazil. Moving Spirits, Inc. is her contemporary arts organization dedicated to performing, researching, documenting and producing African Diaspora arts.
Williams’ scholarly work includes: Giving Life to Movement: The Silvestre Dance Technique; "Reviving Culture Through Ring Shout," published in The Dancer-Citizen; and The African Diaspora and Civic Responsibility (forthcoming). Her awards include two Faculty Research Grants which support her in-depth study and investigation of Ring Shout Dance Traditions and Òrìṣà dances. Williams was commissioned by the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center to create a new work for Moving Spirits, Inc. in 2018; the new work premiered during her Kaatsbaan UpStream Residency in the New York's Hudson Valley.
She has received several Culture Blocks grants from the Mecklenburg County Arts & Science Council, and the funding supports Moving Spirits' ongoing free African diaspora dance workshops throughout the Charlotte community. She is a College of Arts + Architecture faculty recipient of the 2019-2020 Board of Governors Teaching Award.
In 2021, she became an Arts and Science Council Emerging Creative Fellowship recipient to continue her research in Ring Shout traditions in the low country of the United States. She was commissioned by The National Center for Choreography to create a new dance film for her company, Moving Spirits, Inc. The film, ÌBÀ OBÌNRIN, is an award-winning film which has been screened nationally and internationally since June 2021.
