Biography

In the seventies and early eighties Maura studies classical ballet, jazz, modern dance and theater in Brasília.  She creates and directs a number of performance groups: Naked Photographer, Weird Body and Weather Report and she collaborates with choreographers and directors like Hugo Rodas, Regina Miranda, Ary Pararaios and Yara de Cunto. Between 1984 and 1986 Maura teaches performing arts at the University of Brasília and at Dulcina University. In 1987 she lives in Japan and studies butoh with Kazuo Ohno and Min Tanaka becoming a pioneer of butoh in Brazil. In 1989 Maura works and studies in Germany. Between 1987 and 1991 she developes a vast solo repertoire.

Invited by the director of the Center of Theatric Research | SESC, Antunes Filho, Maura moves to São Paulo in 1990.  In the following year she leaves the center and concentrates on her own research being awarded the 1991/92 VITAE Fellowship of Performing Arts for her project "Taanteatro: a research for the transformation of dance". 

In 1991 Maura founds, together with a group of dancers and actors of São Paulo and Brasília, Taanteatro Companhia. In the following years the company develops a repertoire of stage works based on the life and work of Antonin Artaud, Comte de Lautréamont, Ferndando Pessoa, Florbela Espanca, Frida Kahlo, Friedrich Nietzsche, Friedrich Hölderlin, George Tabori, Lewis Carrol, Samuel Beckett and William Shakespeare and perform in theaters and festivals around Brazilian urban centers and abroad. 

In 1994 Maura coordinates the actors training for A Woman dressed in Sun directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho and broadcast by TV Globo. In 1995 Maura curates and produces the  Festival 95 Butoh & Research Theater.  Her book Butoh Dança Veredas D'Alma (Butoh - Dance path of soul) is published and becomes a national reference for scholars and performing arts students.

In 1996 Maura works as an assistant for MinTanaka in The Conquest performed the the Artaud 100 Years Festival produced by Wolfgang Pannek and Taanteatro Companhia. Arará | Bonestories is staged in 1997 and presented in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Santos. In 1998 Chants of Maldoror is staged for the first time at the National Foundation of Arts in São Paulo.

In 1999, invited by the French writer, photographer and painter Nourit Masson Sékiné, Maura performs the solo Tree of Life conceived by Nourit and presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Strasbourg. Maura stages her first work based on the philosophy and poetry of Nietzsche entitled MatériAmor (MatterLove) performed at the Musuem of Image and Sound in São Paulo. Between 1999 and 2006 Taanteatro creates about fifteen different works related to Nietzsche and performs in Brazil, Argentina and Germany.  In 2000 Maura creates MatterDeath with over twenty actors and dancers form Córdoba/Argentina.

In 2001 the company celebrates its 10th birthday with Taanteatro 10 Years Festival, a three month celebration at the National Foundation of Arts in São Paulo. On this occasion Maura conceives and directs Thus spoke Zarathustra - 4th Part  based on texts of the German philosopher and poet Friedrich Nietzsche.

Bewteen 2002 and 2004, with an invitation by José Celso Martinez Corrêa, Maura collaborates with Teatro Oficina, as choreographer and actress in the staging of Os Sertões (São Paulo Critics Award). Os Sertões was performed all over Brazil as well as at the  Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen and at the Volksbühne in Berlin/Germany.

In 2002 !Submerge! is created in collaboration with the Brooklyn based band Artanker Convoy, the video artist Bruna De Araujo and the Argentinean painter Candelária Silvestro and is performed at the Chashama Festival in New York and at the International Theater Festival of Córdoba, Argentina.

In 2004, Maura's choreography  Matter: State of Power receives the Municipal Award for Contemporary Dance of São Paulo. The performance 4th State of Matter is presented at KUBA in Germany. The NUTAAN Nucleus Taanteatro - Formation, Research and Creation performs Premonitory Performances at the Culture Workshop of São Paulo State.  At FILE | Electronic Languages Festival, Maura coordinates the project Renato Cohen in Process dedicated to the researcher and director Renato Cohen.

In 2005 Maura collaborates with the Municipal Company of Chant and Dance of Matola in Mozambique conceiving and directing Xiphamanine - The Eternal Origin of the Mphama Tree  sponsored by the Ministery of Culture of Brazil.

In 2006 she becomes a Master of Communication and Semiotics. In the same year she coordinates the Taanteatro 15 Years Festival realized during a three month period at the João Caetano Theater in São Paulo. In collaboration with Wolfgang Pannek, Maura conceives and directs Zarathustra Machine.  At the same occasion Maura creates a choreographic play for children title Feifei and the Origin of Love.  Maura participates as a dancer, lecturer and teacher at the XYZ Dance Festival of Brasília, ministers classes at the stage art department of the University of Córdoba, Argentina and in the project Principles of Stage Arts at the José de Alencar Theater in Fortaleza. At the end of 2006 Taanteatro Companhia is awarded the Municipal Program of Dance in São Paulo for the project Taanteatro Plus 15 Years and by the National Foundation Dance Award Klauss Vianna for Zaratustra Machine.

In 2007 Maura coordinates NUTAAN 2007 which culminates in the performance|series New Presences shown at Galeria Olido. The company performs The Loneliest Hour, an urban intervention around the city of São Paulo. In homage to the centenary of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Maura stages a new version of Frida Kahlo - A Stonewoman Gives Birth to the Night performed at Galeria Olido, Teatro Fábrica and Centro Cultural São Paulo.  Zarathustra Machine is staged at various Unified Centers of Education and Feifei and the Origin of Love shown at the Centro Cultural São Paulo.
Maura participates in the First National Literature Festival in Ushuaia/Argentina presenting her solo Subtraction of Ophelia. Together with Wolfgang Pannek, Maura releases the book Taanteatro: Choreographic Theater of Tensions published by Azougue Editorial,  Rio de Janeiro.

In 2008 Maura is invited to give classes at the University of Brasília, capital of Brazil.  There, she also coordinates NUTAAN 2008. Frida Kahlo - a stonewoman gives birth to the night is selected by the Secretary of Culture of the State São Paulo to integrate the Circuit of Culture. Feifei and the origen of love is selected to be performed at Aflred Mesquista Theater, São Paulo and Arará - Bonestories is invited to be staged at Humboldt Theater, São Paulo.
 


Publications (written in Portuguese)

Taanteatro - teatro coreográfico de tensões - Azougue Editorial - RJ - 2007
Taanteatro Caderno 1 - Editora Transcultura - SP - 1997
Butoh - Dança Veredas D'Alma - Editora Palas Athena - SP - 1995


Awards

Municipal Program for Dance | São Paulo | 2007
Klauss Vianna Dance Award | National Foundation of Arts | 2006/07
Municipal Award for Contemporary Dance | São Paulo | 2004
Best Actress | 3rd Cinema Festival of Recife  | 1998
Best Wardrobe | Sorocaba Theater Festival  | 1997
Best Actress | Cinema and Video Festival of Maranhão | 1992
VITAE Fellowship for Performing Arts | 1991/92
Best Stageplay choreography | Crowne Plaza Award  SP |1991
Best Stageplay | Critics Award of the Federal District  | 1988
Best Foreign Performance | HINOEMATA Performance Festival  | Japan | 1987


Work

SOLOS
Year - Title - Premiere

2002    SUBMERGE - Chashama Theater - New York City/EUA
2000    MATÉRIA ESTADO DE POTÊNCIA - Instituto Goethe - São Paulo
1999    MATÉRIA 3ª FORMA - Teatro FUNDAJ - Recife
1999    MATÉRIA 2ª FORMA - Strasbourg/França
1998    MATÉRIA 1ª FORMA - Theater Plan B - Tóquio/Japão
1991    FRIDA KAHLO UMA MULHER DE PEDRA DÁ LUZ À NOITE - Teatro Tuca - São Paulo
1990    ABSOLUTAS (série de 4 performances: Himalaia, Estreito de Bering, Florbela em Negro
            e Florbela em Branco) - Teatro Crowne Plaza - São Paulo
1988    QUANDO SOMEM AS BORBOLETAS (duo)- Teatro Nacional - Brasília
1988    VARIAÇÃO EM NEGRO - Teatro Nacional - Brasília
1988    VARIAÇÃO EM BRANCO - Teatro Nacional - Brasília
1987    ENTRE A ESPADA E A PAREDE - Hinoemata Festival /Japão
1987    TRÊS FILHAS E UM OLHO D´ÁGUA - Therpiscore Theater - Tóquio/Japão
1987    VOICE FRASE - Theater Seibu 200 - Tóquio/Japão
1987    IANSÃ - Striped House - Tóquio/Japão
1987    SPIRAL LINE - Gallery Space- Tóquio/Japão
1985    FORASTEIRO - Sala Saltimbancos - Brasília
1985    SPIRAL - UnB - Brasília
1994    OLHO D'ÁGUA - Cultura Inglesa - Brasília
1983    CANDOMBLET - Escola de Música - Brasília


GROUP
Year - Title - Premiere

2007     FRIDA KAHLO: UMA MULHER DE PEDRA DÁ LUZ À NOITE (trio)- GALERIA OLIDO - SÃO PAULO
2007     NOVAS PRESENÇAS (contexto do NUTAAN 2007)- GALERIA OLIDO - SÃO PAULO
2007     A HORA MAIS SOLITÁRIA - Intervenção urbana - SÃO PAULO
2006     FEIFEI E A ORIGEM DO AMOR - TEATRO JOÃO CAETANO - SÃO PAULO
2006     MÁQUINA ZARATUSTRA - TEATRO JOÃO CAETANO - SÃO PAULO
2005     XIPHAMANINE - CINE-TEATRO ÁFRICA/ MAPUTO e CENTRO CULTURAL BANCO DO MOÇAMBIQUE 
             MATOLA/MOÇAMBIQUE
2004     CARDIOCONEXÕES - TEATRO SESI - SÃO PAULO
2004     PERFORMANCES PREMONITÓRIAS - GALERIA DO VIDRO - SÃO PAULO
2004     MATÉRIA 4. AGGREGATZUSTAND - KUBA VEGESACK - BREMEN/ALEMANHA
2004     MATÉRIA ESTADO DE POTÊNCIA - Galeria Olido - SÃO PAULO
2004     MATÉRIA ESTADO DE POTÊNCIA - MOSTRA DANÇA CONTEMP. - SÃO PAULO
2002     !SUBMERGE!  - FESTIVAL INT. MERCOSUR - CÓRDOBA/ARGENTINA
2001     ASSIM FALOU ZARATUSTRA - 4o Livro  - FUNARTE - SÃO PAULO
2001     FRIDA KAHLO UMA MULHER DE PEDRA DÁ LUZ À NOITE (duo)- FUNARTE/SP
2000     MATÉRIAMUERTE  - SALA DE LAS AMÉRICAS - CÓRDOBA/ARGENTINA
1999     MATÉRIAMOR  - MUSEU DA IMAGEM E DO SOM/MIS - SÃO PAULO
1999     CANTOS DE MALDOROR - FUNARTE - SÃO PAULO
1997     !ARARÁ! HISTÓRIAS QUE OS OSSOS CANTAM - TEATRO HILTON - SÃO PAULO
1996     ARTAUD - ONDE DEUS CORRE COM OLHOS DE UMA MULHER CEGA -
             TEATRO DO MUSEU DE ARTE DE SÃO PAULO/MASP
1996     I - UMA ÓPERA CHIPS - NOVA DANÇA - SÃO PAULO
1996     TAUROMAQUIA - TEATRO DA PRAÇA - BELO HORIZONTE
1993      AO PÉ DA MONTANHA - MEMORIAL DA AMERICA LATINA - SÃO PAULO
1992      O LIVRO DOS MORTOS DE ALICE - TEATRO SESC POMPÉIA - SÃO PAULO
1991      O QUADRADO QUE RI - TEATRO MAMBEMBE - SÃO PAULO
1990      A NOIVA QUE SE ASSUSTA VENDO A VIDA ABERTA - TEATRO VENTO FORTE/SP
1989      FLORESTA - TEATRO GARAGEM /SESC - BRASÍLIA
1986      TRADIÇÃO NOSTÁLGICA - TEATRO NACIONAL - BRASÍLIA
1986      CONEXÃO INVISÍVEL - TEATRO NACIONAL - BRASÍLIA
1985      DU-ELO - PAÇO IMPERIAL - RIO DE JANEIRO
1985      CONEXÃO E DESCONEXÃO - TEATRO GALPÃO 508 - BRASÍLIA
1984      RADICAL SOLIDÃO - SALA SALTIMBANCOS/UNB - BRASÍLIA
1983      O PRESENTE DA BORBOLETA - SALA SALTIMBANCOS/UNB - BRASÍLIA
1983      BUMERANGUE - TEATRO NACIONAL - BRASÍLIA
1982      ENCONTRO DOS ENCONTROS - GALERIA DO TEATRO NACIONAL - BRASÍLIA
1981      O DONO DAS CHAVES - SALA SALTIMBANCOS/UNB - BRASÍLIA