Isaura Oliveira

Brazilian Orixa

Isaura Oliveira was born in Salvador-Bahia, the cradle of African Brazilian culture, where African traditions and the arts are constantly maintained and nourished. This is exactly from where and how Isaura built her cultural-artistic experience. She has devoted her extraordinary talents to work in academic, artistic, community, educational and health venues.

Isaura holds a BFA from the School of Dance, Federal University of Bahia and has won numerous awards in Brazil and the U.S. for her research, choreography, projects and performances

Isaura appeared in a PBS and BBC-TVs documentary "Dancing #5: New Worlds, New Forms" in 1993, as the representative for Brazilian dance. Her classes, lecturers, and performances left a lasting impression at Smith, Radcliffe, Wellesley Colleges; Brown, Wesleyan University, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Stanford, UC Riverside University; as well, at Motion Pacific in Santa Cruz-CA, Spontaneous Celebrations and The Dance Complex in MA.

Isaura performed ANCESTRAIS - her acclaimed solo performance of dance, theater and multi-media, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kresge Auditorium in 2001. ANCESTRAIS investigates the African Divinities of the Condomblé - the Orixas. Condomblé is the religious system transported by African slaves to Brazil through the state of Bahia. ANCESTRAIS affirms the right of people of the African Diaspora to celebrate, teach and learn their own culture, technique and philosophy as a part of the larger multicultural context of contemporary art. Directed by Isaura Oliveira and Professor Thomas DeFrantz.