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Dance, Art and Philosophy researcher, artist, professor and writer

Ana Mira, based in Lisbon, makes dance performances in collaboration with dance, poetry, sound and visual artists. She researches, lectures and writes on dance and philosophy.
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Works with

Academic and Artistic Research Centers

For researchers interested in compromising body, dance and performance art practices, embodied theory and critical thought.

Dance, performance and visual arts organizations

For artists and curators interested in the relation between the body, dance, performance and visual arts and philosophical reflections.

Laboratory, workshop and seminar participants

For participants interested in research issues and experimentation of the body related to the field of dance and philosophy.
“Ana Mira’s vulnerability and humbleness as a performer together with her gentle and enquiring persistence, (…). Leaving us with a room charged with memory and presence, she exposes on a physical and visual level the body and its relationship with context.”

Review by Josephine Leask on Rosemary Butcher’s dance piece (londondance, 2012)

With a focus on the body, I practice ways of dismantling and reinventing embodied patterns through the acts of dancing, reading, reflecting and writing.

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About Ana Mira

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.”

Testimony by Mafalda Cruz (PhD Candidate in Performing Arts and the Moving Image)

My research aims to investigate the emergence of new possibilities of life, other sensibilities and communities, which can be expressed through the making of dance art and writing.

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“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”

Review by Eleanor Sikorski on Rosemary Butcher’s dance piece (The Place/Comma 40 Blog, 2011)
Photo credits: Rosemary Butcher & Sam Williams