Bruno Beltrão
Bruno Beltrão (born 19 September 1979 in Niteroi) is a Brazilian choreographer who has worked since 1996 with his Grupo de Rua (GRN). He uses urban dance styles in the context of conceptual theatre and has mixed various influences, including hip hop, to form abstract choreographic landscapes. Since childhood, Beltrão wanted to direct films and was fascinated by cinematographic and computer-generated three-dimensional universes. However, at the age of 13 years, he began to dance in matinees in his hometown, where he started his unexpected relationship with hip hop. In 1994 received his first dance lesson from  the Israeli teacher Yoram Szabo. A year later, his studies was interrupted and he begins to teach street dance in academies of the city. In 1996, at age 16, he created the Grupo de Rua de Niterói with his friend Rodrigo Bernardi. During its first two years, GRN was dedicated to competitive dance and made appearances at festivals and on television. During this period, while they lived intensely the hip hop world, the way the techniques of street dance were usually translated to the stage no longer attracted the group's interest as before. On the contrary, they started to  desire to bring hip hop dance out of the limitations of its own definition. In 2000, Beltrão enrolled in the dance faculty of the "Centro Universitário da Cidade", in Rio de Janeiro. In 2001 the duet piece "From Popping to Pop" debuted at the Duos de Dança no Sesc, in Copacabana. This piece was Beltrão's official debut on the contemporary dance scene in Rio de Janeiro. It was also a turning point in the career of the choreographer, who started to develop a personal vision for the dance he has been doing. Also in 2001, he created "Me and  my choreographer in 63", with the dancer Eduardo Hermanson. At the end of that year, Rodrigo Bernardi left the company and Bruno assumed the direction of Grupo de Rua. Since then he has choreographed "Too Legit to Quit" (2002), "Telesquat" (2003), "H2" (2005), "H3" (2008), "Cracks" (2013) and "Inoah" (2017) In 2002, Grupo de Rua started touring internationally. They have presented in 33 countries (Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Croatia, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Scotland, England, Singapore, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Syria, Uruguay, Chile, United States, Norway, Greece and Hungary