A SHORT

BIOGRAPHY

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, and based in the Netherlands, Samir Calixto is a choreographer whose work explores the human condition through the intricate relationship between music, movement, and dramaturgy. Combining a distinctive physical language with a profound engagement with musical structure, his creations navigate the territory between the tangible and the invisible, drawing on existential, philosophical, and spiritual questions to investigate the complexities of human experience.

Calixto began his artistic career in theatre at the age of fourteen, touring Brazil with theatre groups before obtaining his professional status as an actor at seventeen. His multidisciplinary education included drama at the Drama Art School of the University of São Paulo (EAD) and classical singing at the Conservatory of São Paulo City. Alongside these studies, he developed his dance practice through independent training and encounters with influential mentors. His early choreographic solo Eros received first prize at the Nascente/Abril Festival in 1999.

After moving to Europe in 2004, Calixto established himself within the Dutch and international dance scenes, initially working as a freelance dancer before increasingly dedicating himself to choreography. His solo Wash Me Up was selected as a finalist for the Best Dance Solo Competition in Leipzig in 2005, coordinated by Alain Platel. He subsequently developed an independent choreographic practice, collaborating with institutions and artists across Europe.

Music occupies a central position in Calixto's artistic research. Rather than treating it merely as accompaniment or inspiration, he approaches it as a structural and dramaturgical force that shapes movement, time, space, and the audience's experience. His repertoire includes Winterreise, 4 Seasons, Paradise Lost, M, Summa, created with Cello Octet Amsterdam around music by Arvo Pärt, and Die Schöne Müllerin, commissioned by Theater Osnabrück. In 2014, he became the first recipient of the BNG Excellent Talent Dance Award, while 4 Seasons was nominated for the VSCD Zwaan for Most Impressive Dance Production. His more recent creations include Dido, Aeneas Us & All, La Noche Eterna, FULGENCE (2025), created for the German company Of Curious Nature, and RAIZ (2025), a solo produced through his own artistic platform.

In 2021, Calixto co-founded Matter Affects with Stacz Wilhelm, former artistic director of Korzo. Based in the Dutch province of Overijssel, the foundation provides a platform for his artistic work while contributing to the development of dance in the region and fostering international collaborations with musicians, ensembles, and theatres. His artistic trajectory also includes a relationship with Scenario Pubblico, the nationally supported dance centre in Catania, Sicily, where he served as an associate artist and choreographer.

With a career spanning more than two decades, Calixto has presented his work at theatres and festivals across Europe and beyond, including in South Korea and Senegal. His ongoing choreographic research continues to explore how music and movement can become vehicles for transformation, opening spaces in which audiences may encounter the familiar anew and sense dimensions of human existence that often remain unseen.