Helio Santos

Hélio Santos is a dancer, teacher and choreographer, born in Cabo Verde, and living in Lisbon. He concluded his studies at P.A.R.T.S. (The Performing Arts Research and training Studios) in 2008 and got scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian.

As a choreographer, he created “Agora” in partnership with Debora Rey, “Living Through”, both in 2008, “Cântico dos cânticos” in April 2012 and “Canoa” in July 2012. In his early childhood he started dancing the traditional dances from Cabo Verde. He has been teaching dancing for more than ten years and he is the founder of the project KizombaXtreme. Kizomba, or “Passada” in Cabo Verde, was something he had always by his side. In Cabo Verde, it is not taught because is part of culture and daily life of the country. As a consequence, Hélio developed his personal style in dancing Kizomba. His teaching methodology was personally developed as the result of his life path. He was also the main actor of the movies “Fertilize”, “Life as it Begins” – Belgium, 2007 and “The Black Bird Flying” – Belgium, 2008. Helio was the choreographer of a children’s group of Bairro 6 de Maio for a show presented on the independency day of CaboVerde.