Teresa Simas

Who is Teresa Simas?

Teresa Simas is a Portuguese dancer and choreographer.

She made her professional debut as a soloist with Dança Grupo at the Teatro de S. Luís in Lisbon at the age of 16. In 1988 she started her studies at the State Dance School of Kiev in Ukraine, working with professors such as Irina Kriptova, Evgueni Baukin, Vadim Fedotov and Valeria Ivanovna, with whom she studied the Vaganova technique. Teresa also studied Choreography at the University of Dramatic Arts in Moscow . More recently, she worked on the Mézières Method with Elisabeth Gibiat and on the Cunningham technique at the Merce Cunningham Institute in New York.

She worked at the Dietzki Musicalni Ballet with Natalia Satz, in Moscow, where she met choreographer Edvald Smirnov. It was at Smirnov's Russian Chamber Ballet where Teresa danced as a soloist from 1992 to 1994, dancing the principal roles in L'Arlesienne and Nero and Seneca, among others. She assisted Smirnov for one year and recreated L'Arlesienne in Cheboksary Theatre.

In 1994, she returned to Portugal, working with CêDêCê and with the Companhia de Dança de Lisboa - where she worked as a rehearsal director and assisted Célia Gouveia, particularly on the creation of "Cabo da Boa Esperança". She also assisted the National Team of Rhythmic Gymnastics as a choreography adviser and Ballet teacher.