Dr. Rosaria M. Gracia has been dancing, teaching and choreographing static and parade performances since 1999. She has performed extensively in the UK and in International Festivals in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Cuba. She has a broad experience as a teacher, performer and choreographer for groups of all ages, delivering over 500 sessions (both of arts in practice and academic content) per year.
She has an in-depth knowledge of Afro-Brazilian dance practices which she immersed in since the 1990s. She has a special interest in the representations of dance of the African Diaspora in Brazil and Cuba which is translated in her Indigenous Indian choreographies and Bahiana (in their representations in Samba, Maracatu and Afoxe).
Her expertise in International Dance extends to her knowledge of Flamenco palos and Bollywood. Rosaria encountered Bollywood while performing with Emergency Exit Arts in their show Runga Rung (2005 – 2007). She then undertook training with Himany Dixit in Udaipur (India) and continued her research and practice. She has taught Bollywood and Bhangra as part of the Dance Course at City College (UAL Diploma 2014- 2010), in schools, events and Indian weddings. She also choreographed a piece for the project Yamuna Yemanja performed at the famous Notting Hill Carnival (2014) fusing Indian and Brazilian dance traditions.
In the field of arts and health she has devised and delivered programmes such as ‘Dancing for Health and Wellbeing’(since 2012), ‘Finding your Compass’ (in collaboration with film maker Fiona Geilinger, 2012 – present) and ‘Synergy Arts’ (in collaboration with musician Polina Shepherd, 2009 – 2006), which have proven to be beneficial to the participants, and facilitators alike, in their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. Building on her interest in anatomy and the moving body, she then continued researching and representing Afro-Brazilian dance and symbology, both in its own right, and linking it with her GYROTONIC® Method training (gyrotonic.com), at community and professional levels and in Arts and Health projects.
She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, an Associate Lecturer in Politics, International Development and Mental Health in the Community at the Open University (since 2008), is a Specialist Qualitative Researcher, a Dementia Awareness Trainer Specialist and an Artistic Quality Assessor for the Arts Council. Please visit ‘Research and Consultancy’ page for more details in this field of work.