about
The Professional Dance Program Ano Zero Artístico, lasting one year, is located in the wonderful Cascais city council. The AZA dance program aims to guide and prepare young dancers who intend to enter the professional world.
The professional work-based training aims to develop students' technical and artistic skills, prepare them for the job market, provide direct practical experiences with choreographers and contemporary and classical dance repertoire.
The program will include daily classes, Monday through Friday, in contemporary and classical dance technique, movement exploration classes, access to improvisation techniques, studies of repertoire from freelance choreographers and dance companies, preparation for auditions, and the creation of at least two choreographic creations with invited choreographers. Students, if they wish, will have the opportunity to apply for space to create their artistic work.
The content of the one-year AZA dance program will be empowering for each student who attends the program, in that each student, in addition to all collective work, will also have the creation of a personal development plan, a personalized work for their objective.
During the training, students will also have access to:
Internships in Dance Companies
Workshops
Lectures
Masterclasses
Artistic Residencies
Public Presentations
Throughout the AZA dance program, we will work intensively towards the goal, and at the conclusion of the program, students will have the opportunity to showcase their work to choreographers, school directors, and company directors with the aim of receiving possible professional proposals.
We aim for the training to offer continuous work to its participants and promote presentations to the public. The approach to new techniques and movement languages will allow for better inclusion in the artistic world.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
INÊS PEDRUCO
Inês Pedruco is the founder of the AZA_Dance Program in 2024.
She is a PhD student in Human Motricity, specializing in Dance, from the Faculty of Human Motricity and a master's degree in Dance Teaching, from the Escola Superior de Dança. She began her dance studies at the Ana Manjericão Dance School, obtaining diplomas from the Royal Ballet School. She was a student at the National Conservatory Dance School, where she obtained her Professional Dancer diploma with merit (2002-09). In 2009 she was a semi-finalist in the international competition “Prix de Lausanne”, where she won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School in New York.
Professional training: Sharon Eyal (2023); FoCo Technique - Yin Yue (2020/21) and KOVA Method - La Veronal (2019).
As a performer, he was part of Companhia Quorum Ballet (2009/14), Companhia Teatromosca (2014/15) and as a freelancer at Vortice Dance Company ( 2016). She participated in the Movement Study and Research research project “A BlackBox Arts & Cognition”, with choreographer Sylvia Rijmer and the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. In 2019 she was invited to participate in the show “Nous – Inner Perception”, and as a rehearser, she re-staged the ballet “Swan Lake”, both by choreographer Daniel Cardoso (2016). Between 2017/19, she was a teacher and rehearser of plays by Rui Lopes Graça, Olga Roriz and Miguel Ramalho, among other authors.
In 2024 he collaborated with the research of choreographer Sylvia Rijmer with the BL Method and in the same year performed the piece "La Passion de Simone" with the Real Filharmonia de Galicia and Maestrina Joana Carneiro.
As a teacher he taught: Escola Superior de Dança (2018 /23); Ana Manjericão Dance School (2019/20); Artistic School of the National Conservatory (2017/19); Setúbal Dance Academy (2016/18); Centro Norton de Matos (2016/18) and Conservatory of Music and Dance of Coimbra (2016/17). Dance Competition Judge: Municipal Competition at Theatro Circo (2024); Dançarte (2022); Arte100Fronteiras (2022); Dance World Cup (2010).
As a creator, she choreographed in a competitive context: XXVII International Ballet Competition Varna (Bulgaria), European Grand Prix (Vienna), TanzOlymp (Berlin), Northern Dance Festival, winning outstanding and merit awards. And professional context: for the Junior Company of the Aveiro Dance School (2016); with the Little Company of the Setúbal Contemporary Dance Academy / Young Choreographers, the show “24”, and “Again(st) Certain. Again(st) Even”, for Companhia Jovem AnimaBallet (2019). For Companhia de Dança de Almada, he choreographed, in 2021, the children's piece “O fio da Macaquinha” and in 2022 a co-creation with Margarida Belo Costa for ESD/IDI&CA “The pertinence of beings” and also “ai Kulit” for the Quorum Project. In 2023 she created “emotionally strange” for ESD students with its premiere in Mafra and finally, as part of the Quinzena de Dança de Almada Festival, she choreographed “ShortCut” for Ca.DA. In 2024 she premieres the play "Crisálida" for AnimaBallet, in Funchal.