Bruno Beltrão

Who is Bruno Beltrão?

Bruno Beltrão is a Brazilian choreographer who has worked since 1996 with his Grupo de Rua. He uses urban dance styles in the context of conceptual theatre and has mixed various influences, including hip hop, to form abstract choreographic landscapes.

Since childhood, Beltrão wanted to direct films and was fascinated by cinematographic and computer-generated three-dimensional universes. However, at the age of 13 years, he began to dance in matinees in his hometown, where he started his unexpected relationship with hip hop. In 1994 received his first dance lesson from the Israeli teacher Yoram Szabo. A year later, his studies was interrupted and he begins to teach street dance in academies of the city.

In 1996, at age 16, he created the Grupo de Rua de Niterói with his friend Rodrigo Bernardi. During its first two years, GRN was dedicated to competitive dance and made appearances at festivals and on television. During this period, while they lived intensely the hip hop world, the way the techniques of street dance were usually translated to the stage no longer attracted the groups's interest as before. On the contrary, they started to desire to bring hip hop dance out of the limitations of its own definition.