Academic and Artistic Research Centers
Dance, performance and visual arts organizations
Laboratory, workshop and seminar participants
Review by Josephine Leask on Rosemary Butcher’s dance piece (londondance, 2012)
Ana Mira, a researcher, artist, professor, and writer in dance, art, and philosophy, has cultivated her expertise through international study and research. Her journey has taken her to Europe and the United States, where she studied embodied practices, contemporary dance, and Chi Kung independently. Her academic achievements include a PhD in Philosophy (Aesthetics) from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, NOVA University Lisbon (2014), under the guidance of the philosopher José Gil. During her doctoral studies, she was a visiting scholar at CRMEP – Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy /Kingston University (UK) and a research fellow of the FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology (http://run.unl.pt/handle/10362/14026).
Ana Mira’s research projects in dance and philosophy underscored the significance of her enquiry in the academic and artistic communities. Her work was funded by institutions such as the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (2009/2013), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2007), the Portuguese Ministry of Culture (2002/2003), and the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth (1997). These fellowships have facilitated her studies at renowned institutions such as CRMEP – Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy /Kingston University and Independent Dance (UK); Performance Studies Department /Tisch School of the Arts – New York University, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Movement Research and Trisha Brown Dance Company (USA); Dans Studio Pauline de Groot (NL) and Dance Exchange /Russell Dumas (FR).
Ana Mira’s choreographic work includes “At Once”, an adaptation of Deborah Hay’s SPCP/2009 (Teatro Maria Matos, 2010), “Três Estudos para Shihtao” (Teatro Camões, 2007), “Dueto” (Festival Alkantara, 2006). As a dance researcher and performer, she has had the privilege of collaborating with artists such as Pauline de Groot (2001/2003), Russell Dumas (2003/2005), and Rosemary Butcher (2011/2015), enriching her artistic journey and expanding her creative horizons.
Ana Mira has taught internationally embodied practices, improvisation, composition, dance history, dance studies, dance and philosophy laboratories, and aesthetics at various performing arts and visual arts universities and educational programs. She is currently a guest lecturer at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa. Also, she is a lecturer in Aesthetics at Ar.Co – Centre for Art and Visual Communication, and a researcher and member of the Nova Institute of Philosophy, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, where she participates in CultureLab’s research group Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art.
She curated the following projects: Coalesce: in the space of the body in thought – a continuous seminar on dance, drawing, and philosophy at Porta33 (2020–2022); Dance and Philosophy Laboratory at Polo Cultural Gaivotas Boavista (2017); Taking Position: the Political and Place, an experimental performance studies course (Baldio | Performance Studies, 2016); and the Permanent Seminar on Performance and Philosophy at the Nova Institute of Philosophy (2015).
Her latest dance, art and philosophy essays include: Laboratorio de movimiento y filosofía: un testimonio (Segunda en Papel, 2024); Corpo e cidade: um estudo sobre o comum e os undercommons nas Acções de Eleonora Fabião (Húmus, 2023); Para una presencia del ritmo en la escritura de Nijinski (Rhuthmos, 2020); Poema-acontecimento: um encontro entre a palavra e o corpo (Nuisis Zobop & Instituto de Filosofia da Universidade do Porto, 2019); Contornos de inexistência: uma leitura da peça coreográfica I AM HERE, de João Fiadeiro (Teatro Municipal do Porto / Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda, 2018); Sensorial Document: an embodied practice in dance and philosophy from collaboration in After Kaprow: The Silent Room by Rosemary Butcher (2012), Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices (2016). She has presented her research in international conferences, most recently Gestures of alterity and ecologies of practice in architecture and dance (KASK School of Arts, 2024) and Isadora Duncan, Gertrude Stein, Susanne K. Langer: gestures of appearance and resistance in dance, poetry, and philosophy (University of Lisbon, 2021).
“Ana Mira possesses wide-ranging knowledge and a genuine openness and curiosity about experimental and emerging subjects in contemporary performance practice. She can reflect on contrasting subjects and articulate concepts with natural elegance, even when they appear to conflict. These aspects demonstrate the breadth and depth of her critical perspective and intellectual commitment, which goes beyond the conventional limitations of singular or one-sided study subjects. Her exceptional attention to the underlying narrative and movement aspects is evident, as she can observe and identify connections between seemingly distinct or overlooked matters. Ana has extensive experience integrating theory with practice and excels in developing metabolization techniques of reading and writing and their application in performance, exploring the inevitable limits of their permeability.”
“The rocking movement, which Ana Mira becomes almost possessed by in her performance, seeps its way into my own body and I find myself swaying in my seat as I watch her”