Paula Gouveia Varanda

Paula Varanda, Lisbon, 1970. Holds a PhD in Humanities and Artistic Studies from Middlesex University (2016), an MA in Choreography and Performing Arts from the same university (2003), and a degree from the Lisbon Dance School of the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute.

She served as Director-General of the Directorate-General for the Arts (Ministry of Culture) on secondment (2016-2018) and as an advisor to the Arts Institute (2004-2007).

She writes about dance and culture in academic and cultural publications and collaborated as a critic with the Público newspaper (2004 to 2016).

Between 1994 and 2005, she worked professionally in the production, management, and coordination of national and international artistic projects for entities such as Danças na Cidade/Alkantara, Re.Al – João Fiadeiro, Danse Bassin Mediterranée, and Body-Data-Space.

In 2008, she created Dansul – dance for the community in southeastern Alentejo – carried out in partnership with four municipalities, assuming artistic and management direction until 2015.

She was an assistant professor at the Lisbon Dance School (2010-2011) and has lectured on Cultural Policies at Fórum Dança since 2018.

Since 2020, she has been an invited assistant professor in the Master's in Performing Arts at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the New University of Lisbon and, since 2019, a researcher at the Art History Institute of the same faculty.

Between 2019 and 2022, she was the pedagogical director and coordinator of the arts department at Colégio Cesário Verde.

Since 2020, she has been the Director of Companhia Maior.

Photography © Rui Silveira