"Those who live trying to understand what they are doing here and their relationship with the self, with others and with the world, will always face never-ending questions."

Born in Lisbon, Clara Andermatt is considered one of the pioneers of Nova Dança Portuguesa (New Portuguese Dance). Throughout the years, Andermatt’s career has revealed a singular artistic identity, both on the national and the international dance scenes, doubtlessly leaving her imprint in the history of Portuguese contemporary dance.

At an early age, Andermatt began her formal training in dance with her mother Luna Andermatt. Clara Andermatt also studied piano, until she went to London in 1980 to continue her studies in dance at the London Studio Centre, where se graduated in 1984. She received a Bridget Espinosa scholarship, awarded yearly to one single student, and was also distinguished with “The Best Student Award”. In that same year, Andermatt obtained her Advanced Diploma from the Royal Academy of Dance, in London.

She was contemplated with scholarships from the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (Lee, Massachusetts, 1988), from the American Dance Festival’s International Choreographers Residency Program (Durham, 1994), and from the Bates Dance Festival (Maine, 2002).

Her interest in theatre led her to study Method acting with Michael Margotta and Robert Castle.

She joined Companhia de Dança de Lisboa, under the direction of Rui Horta (1984-1988), and Ramón Oller’s Compañía Metros, in Barcelona (1989-1991).

In 1991 she settled in Portugal and founded her own dance company, a cultural association that carries her name: Companhia Clara Andermatt (ACCCA).

In 1994, the choreographer started a close collaboration with Cape Verde, creating several projects with local artists from various artistic backgrounds, which included artistic residencies, workshops, and performances. Andermatt established an intensive collaboration during seven consecutive years, persisting to this day.

She is regularly invited to create works for other companies, to teach in different educational contexts and levels, and has participated as a choreographer and as an actor in films and plays. She has created over 60 pieces throughout her career, which are regularly presented in Portugal and international stages.

Andermatt choreographed four pieces for Ballet Gulbenkian (between 1996 and 2004), and she was also invited by Companhia Nacional de Bailado (the National Ballet of Portugal) to create three pieces (2011-2021).

She was choreographer in films such as “Nha Fala” (“My Voice”), by Flora Gomes (Guinea-Bissau 2002) and “O Grande Circo Místico” (“The Great Mystical Circus”), by Cacá Diegues (Brazil 2018). As an actress she had a special participation in “Alice”, by Marco Martins (Portugal 2005).

In 2015, the Municipality of Santa Maria da Feira invited Clara Andermatt to be the artistic director of the project “LaB inDança”, an inclusive dance project partly funded by the PARTIS programme (2019-2022), an initiative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation that contemplates projects of social inclusion through artistic practices.

Her artistic path is marked by the encounters with other cultures and artistic languages and, in particular, by her work on the threshold between genres and styles, between trained and untrained bodies, in her pursuit of proximity with the Other, with the aim of feeling and perceiving the singularity of each individual person. Clara Andermatt has developed an artistic practice that encompasses two dimensions: the artistic and the inclusive worlds.