Extensive Bio

Maria dances, creates and teaches.

She completed her Professional Training Course for Dancers at the Academia de Dança Contemporânea de Setúbal (ADCS), under the mentorship of Iolanda Rodrigues, Marina Sacramento, Madame Irina Stupina, and Fernando Duarte. While a final-year student, she took part in an exchange program with the Belgian school KUNST!HUMANIORA.

As a professional dancer, she was part of CeDeCe – Companhia de Dança Contemporânea (trainee dancer), North Dance Company (lead dancer), Vortice Dance Company (lead dancer), and CDA – Companhia de Dança de Aveiro (guest dancer). She toured nationally and internationally, with highlights including performances at the Ibero-American Artistic Festival MOV'S and at the Festival Teatro Gayarre (Spain), the opening of the Opera & Ballet Season of Teatro Comunale di Bolzano (Italy) and the presentation at the XVII International Ballet Festival of Miami (USA).

Throughout her artistic path, she had the privilege of collaborating with choreographers such as Thaddeus Davis, Jonathan Hollander, Iolanda Rodrigues, Daniel Cardoso and Jochen Heckmann. She was also involved in a co-production with the Macedonian Opera Ballet (MOB) as a dancer and rehearsal assistant, performing in Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

Maria began teaching dance within pedagogical programs developed by the companies she worked with, and later independently in various schools (Escola de Artes, WestSideStudio, Redbridge School, UDance, etc.), including at the school where she was trained (ADCS). Currently she directs and teaches in the project Our Mother Tongue, aiming to open participants to the experience of the universal somatic language of dance, movement, and creation.

Maria holds a yoga instructor degree from AETO – Associação Europeia de Terapias Orientais (now IPYM – Instituto Português de Yoga e Mindbody), which informs her holistic approach to movement.

In 2018, she completed her law degree at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FDUNL), receiving merit awards for her academic progress. Between September 2024 and February 2025, she worked as a collaborator with the direction of the creative platform Estúdios Victor Córdon (OPART - EVC).

Along her way, Maria found further training programs that profoundly shaped her personal and artistic vision, including the workshop at NDT - Nederlands Dans Theater (The Hague, Oct. 2010), the exploration of Butoh (Lisbon, Nov. 2024), and, more recently, the participation in the Pina Bausch Repertory LAB’24 (Berlin, Dec. 2024).

Maria created the group piece “(sinestesia)” and co-created the duet “Wonderlust”.

In 2025, she premiered her solo creation “LIBERTAÇÃO-LIBERATION” at the Young Choreographers Showcase.

Maria has been devoting special care to her own research, investigating movement as a way of revealing a shared language. Through a practice of sensitive listening, her artistic processes engage the body as the primal multilayered medium of expression capable of opening possibilities in a ritual of intimacy and imagination.

She believes in the transformative power of art and that excellence starts in integrity.

maria ana diogo