Teresa Alves da Silva
Teresa trained at Academia de Dança Contemporânea de Setúbal and later joined CeDeCe of which she was a founding member appearing in the entire repertoire. She joined Ballet Gulbenkian in 1997 until 2005 under the artistic direction of Iracity Cardoso and Paulo Ribeiro. She danced with Atterbaletto in 2004 under the artistic direction of Mauro Bigonzetti. Teresa has performed choreographies by Jiri Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Rui Horta, Itzik Galili, Jan Kodet, Paulo Ribeiro, Olga Roriz, Rodrigo Pederneiras e Vera Mantero,with emphasis on creations by Mats
Ek (Solo for Two), Angelin Preljocaj (Annunciation), Didy Veldman (See Blue Through), Mauro Bigonzetti (Cantata) and Stijn Celis (Paradise Pradice). From 2005 through 2007 Teresa was a dancer with Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporâneo with Vasco Wellekamp and Pedro Goucha in the artistic direction. In 2007 alongside Andre Mesquita, she founded TOK’ART, a creative platform, where as well as sharing the artistic direction, she has featured as a performer in the entire repertoire; Como é bom tocar-te, Cinderela, Slow, I hope not to fall, O último lugar, The Who and The What, Made in Time, Foreword, Landscape with Figures, WORK, Suggestions For Walking Alone, Vertical, and You Never Know How Things Are Going To Come Together.
In March of 2009, Teresa won first prize for interpretation for the solo Lake, choreographed by Andre Mesquita, at the 13th International Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival in Stuttgart. As an award winning performer she joined the tour of the winners and performed Lake in Germany, Spain and Greece.
Teresa danced the duet Milk, created by Andre Mesquita for the V International Gala of the Portuguese National Ballet Company. In 2010 and 2011, she toured with TOK’ART in countries such as Poland, Palestine, Cyprus, Croacia and Spain as well as in Portugal. The choreographer Sylvia Rijmer invited Teresa to perform the piece Every.Body.Hunts, which premiered at Companhia Olga Roriz dance studios with further performances at Centro Cultural do Cartaxo and Centro Cultural de Belém – Black Box. In the same year Teresa was the rehersal director and assistant during the creation of A Terceira Sugestão by the choreographer André Mesquita at Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporâneo
Critics have claimed Teresa’s work to be of reference for interpretation, great poetic expression and sensitivity, and of an expert technical rigor.