António Tavares

António Tavares is one of the key figures in the history of contemporary dance on the African continent.

He has been the artistic mentor of many artists, such as Marlene Freitas (silver lion for dance at the venice biennale in 2018) and was an advisor to Pina Bausch in the creation of the piece 'Masurca Fogo'. He trained at the Higher School of Dance of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

He started his work in the city of Mindelo, as a dancer with the Mindel Stars, with whom he made his first international tour in 1986, passing through the Netherlands, Senegal, France and Macao. In 1991, he founded the Groups Crêtcheu and Compas Pilon Groups, with whom he researched traditional Cape Verdean dances. In addition to working with various Portuguese choreographers, such as Olga Roriz, Aldara Bizarro, Francisco Camacho, Rui Nunes and José Laginha.

He developed his own work following a line of afro-contemporary creation, and created numerous projects: "a ilha", "clan-destinos", "fou-naná" (Centro Cultural de Belém-1997), "sobretudo" (Danças na Cidade'97), "danças de câncer" (a co-production Portugal / Cape Verde, with original music by Vasco Martins 1999). "caminho longe" (New Jersey Performing Art Center - New York), "different voices" (Bates Dance Festival), multimedia show "blimundo", by Caboverdian filmmaker Leão Lopes, "spidaranha", opera crioulo" (2002), "recordai" (Mindelo, 2003), "kmêdeus' (2003), "white noise" (Gulbenkian, 2005), "some voices" ( Belgium, 2005), "l'abbandono al tempo" (Belgium, 2006), aniki bobo (Casa da Música-Porto, 2008), opera "crioulo" (CCB, Grande Auditório, 2009). jus soli 2011 (CCB Fora de Si).

António Tavares belongs to a family of several generations of famous musicians in the country's musical history; he founded and participated as a musician in the Kalanka' group, with whom he investigated the relationship between music and dance in the social and cultural Cape Verdean context.

He is also the Artistic director of Centro Cultural de Mindelo and Bombu Mininu.