Ricardo de Paula is a freelance dancer, performer and choreographer born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. In 1987 he started his dance career studying jazz and classical ballet at the Harmonia Studio de Dança in Belo Horizonte. Since 1989 he has worked as a professional dancer in a range of different companies such as Grupo Corpo with Rodrigo Pederneiras (Brazil), Zikzira Physical Theater (Brazil) and the Staatstheater Kassel. Ricardo de Paula has lived in Berlin since 2003 where he has worked with choreographers such as Sasha Waltz, Christoph Winkler, Constanza Macras, Sommer Ulrickson and Felix Ruckert. Since 2005 he has developed solo pieces as well as installation/performances on the boundaries of visual art, and his own productions with the Grupo Oito since 2006 that have been invited to tour Turkey and France. In two projects in public space in 2008 and 2009, Ricardo de Paula has dealt with everyday racism  with young people of different cultural backgrounds. In 2012 he was awarded the dance stipend from the cultural department of the Berlin Senate. He teaches courses and workshops for professional dancers in the ‘Get Physical Process’ a body training he has developed himself. He has shown the piece Stück Sight with Grupo Oito as well as his solo work Shoot First and other pieces in the context of the Black Lux festival, a Berlin festival of black perspectives.

„Shoot first“
30. August, 3:30 pm, 6:30 pm, Studio 4