About Filipe Portugal
Choreographer, Dancer, Teacher
Dance Experience
Filipe Portugal was born in 1978 in Lisbon where he studied Ballet at the National Conservatory of Portugal, having his main mentor the Master Georges Garcia.
After finishing his studies he was invited by the director Jorge Salavisa to join the National Ballet of Portugal as a member of the Corps de Ballet.
After six years he leaves the Company as a Soloist to join the Ballett Zürich under the direction of Heinz Spoerli where he danced for seven years.
As a Principal Dancer he then returned to Portugal in the same category, but only for a short period of time.
A year and a half later he returns to Zürich where he continues dancing as a Principal Dancer under the direction of Christian Spuck until the end of June 2020 when he decides to retire from the stage and focus entirely on his profession as a Choreographer.
During his career in both companies he had danced several principal and soloist roles in classical and story ballets such as:
- Giselle by Georges Garcia, Patrice Bart, Heinz Spoerli (Albrecht, Hilarion, Willfred)
- Sleeping Beauty by Ted Brandsen (Prince Désire, Blue Bird, Gold Variation)
- La Sylphide by August Bournonville (James)
- Romeo & Juliet by John Cranko, Christian Spuck (Romeo, Pàris, Pater Lorenzo)
- Cinderella by Michael Corder, Heinz Spoerli (Ballet Master, Prince’s friend)
- Swan Lake by Heinz Spoerli , Alexei Ratmansky (Rotbart, Pas de Cinque, Wolfgang)
- Coppelia by John Auld, Heinz Spoerli (Friends)
- Nutcracker by Heinz Spoerli, Christian Spuck (Nutcracker, Spanish Dance, Drosselmeyer, Grandfather)
- Midsummer Night’s Dream by Heinz Spoerli (Demetrius)
- Anna Karenina by Christian Spuck (Alexei Karenine)
- Leonce & Lena by Christian Spuck (King)
- Woyzeck by Christian Spuck (Professor)`
- Der Sandmann by Christian Spuck (Spalanzani)
- Raymonda by Marius Petipa (Grand Pas)
- Rite of Spring by Nijinsky, Heinz Spoerli, Cayetano Soto
- Petruska by Fokine
- Les Noces by Nijinska
- Peer Gynt by Heinz Spoerli
- Don Juan by Heinz Spoerli
Other Performances
He also danced in several neo-classical and contemporary pieces from choreographers such as:
- George Ballanchine (Serenade -Waltz, Duo Concertante, Agon - 1st and 2nd trio, Theme and Variations - Demi soloists, Four Temperaments - 3rd Theme, Allegro Brillante - Solo Couple, Rubies)
- Jiri Kylian (Petite Mort, Bella Figura, Stepping Stones, Wings of Wax)
- Mats Ek (Sleeping Beauty - Father, Carabosse)
- William Forsythe (In the middle somewhat elevated, Artifact, Workwithinwork, New Sleep)
- Hans Van Manen (Adagio Hammerklavier)
- Uve Scholz (Oktett)
- Nacho Duato (Arcangelo)
- Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (The Lisbon Piece)
- Marco Goecke (Nijinsky)
- Crystal Pite (Emergence)
- Edward Clug (Hill Harper’s Dream)
- Lin Hwai-Min (Smoke)
- Kevin O’Day (Aract)
- Douglas Lee (A-Life)
- Nils Christie (Before Nightfall)
- Jan Linkens (Bruicheat)
- Martin Schläpfer (Forellen Quintett)
- Heinz Spoerli (Goldberg Variations, Cello Suites, Elements, Songs of the Earth, etc.)
- Christian Spuck (Sonett, Mesa de Requiem, Winterreise)
- Rui Lopes Graça (Savalliana, DeSete, Llanto, Dançares, etc.)
- David Fielding (Frates, Bomtempo, etc.)
- Vasco Wellenkamp ( A Chuva cai na poeira com no poema)
- Cayetano Soto (Rite of Spring)
Choreographic Experience
Dedication, commitment and innovation.
He made his choreographic debut in Portugal for a choreographic workshop with the piece “Anfractus” (2001), which was chosen to become part of the Company’s repertoire
Afterwards, already in Zürich, he choreographed “Alleged Dances” (2007) for the Zürich Junior Ballet , “Road B” (2007) for Ballet Zürich and “Sonata” (2008) again for the Zürich Junior Ballet, all under the direction of Heinz Spoerli.
Under the direction of Christian Spuck he created for the Young Choreographers a piece called “Silk Road” (2013) and was asked to create a duet for the Sylvester Galla 2013, “Liebestod”.
In the following year he created another piece for the Young Choreographers, “Different Trains” (2014) and this time he was invited to create for the Zürich Junior Ballet, “Tauwetter” (2014).
The year after, he made his first creation for Ballet Zürich under Christian Spuck’s direction, called “Diaologos”. Also in 2015 has created “Masquerade” for the Zürich Opera Ball and two pieces for the Dance Academy Zürich (TAZ) under the direction of Oliver Mats and Steffi Scherzer, “Uncontrolled” and “Piazzola”.
In 2017 he created a duet for the Zürich Junior Ballet “Behind the Mirror” and for Ballet Zürich “disTANZ”.
The year of 2018 was the year of his North American debut with the piece “Stepping Over” which he created for the Charlotte Ballet. He also created “Heavy Lightness” for the "Noverre-Young Choreographers" for Stuttgart Ballet. Shortly after “O não efémero” for Young Portuguese Talents in Lisbon and “Echo of Elements” for the Zürich Junior Ballet which in June 2019 opened the "Young Talent Festival" at the Linbury Theatre in London.
In 2019 creates for the Ballet School of the Opera House Zürich the piece “Under Duress” and for the Shanghai Ballet in coproduction with Yen Han Ballet Company the piece “Thoughts of a Silent Night” performed at the Shanghai International Arts Festival. In December he premieres the piece "Rencontres" created for the Cannes Junior Ballet presented at the "Cannes Dance Festival"
The year 2020 is remembered for his transition from the career of Dancer to Choreographer starting a new life cycle now as Choreographer in the same Company where he began his career as a Dancer 24 years ago creating "Teu Corpo Meu Echo” in Lisbon for the National Ballet of Portugal.
In 2021 he creates "Afternoon of a Faun" for BA Contemporary Dance in Zurich and together with the artistic director Stephen Delattre he creates "Shelter" for Delattre Dance Company in Germany.
Ballets created by Filipe and Composers
- Anfractus - Steve Reich (2001)
- Alleged Dances - John Adams (2007)
- Road B - John Adams (2007)
- Sonata - Cesar Franck (2008)
- Silk Road - Fazil Say (2013)
- Liebestod - Richard Wagner (2013)
- Different Trains - Steve Reich (2014)
- Tauwetter - Phillip Glass, Max Richter, Samuel Barber (2014
- Masquerade - Khachaturian (2015)
- Uncontrolled - David Lang, Philip Glass, Hildur Gudnadottir (2015)
- Piazzolla - Astor Piazzolla (2015)
- Dialogos - Nik Bärtch (2015)
- Behind the Mirror - Shostakovich (2017)
- disTANZ - C.P.E.Bach, W.F.Bach, J.S.Bach (2017)
- Stepping Over - Philip Glass (2018)
- Heavy Lightness - Arvo Pärt (2018)
- O não efémero - Abel Korzeniowski, Arvo Pärt, Maxt Richter, Ólafur Arnalds (2018)
- Echo of Elements - John Adams (2018)
- Under Duress - Philip Glass (2019)
- Thoughts on a Silent Night - Jean Sibelius (2019
- Reencontres - Frédéric Chopin, Ólafur Arnalds, Zoë Keating (2019)
- Orpheus & Eurydice - Phillip Glass, Gluck (2020)
- Teu Corpo Meu Eco - Bach, Miguel Lucas Mendes (2020)
- Afternoon of a Faun - Claude Debussy (2021)
- Shelter - Davidson Jaconello (2021)
- Teasing Games - J.S.Bach (2021)