Rita Carmo Martins

Rita did a round-off back flip from gymnastics to contemporary circus. She found in aerials, acrobatics and handstands techniques the freedom and the extension of her previous training. A community pharmacist for four years, she started to question how both areas could communicate with other people, with a message, with a gesture. She is co-creator of the company Coração nas Mãos, investigating poetry, simplicity, movement through circus and dance languages. Rita has also worked with Portuguese circus and theatre companies, as an acrobatic gymnastics coach, as a circus teacher, as a circus cabarets organizer and as a freelance photographer. Her curiosity and adventure spirit took her to Toulouse, to Lido, where she was part of the FOCON formation, and to Tilburg, to Fontys, to the Master Performing Public Space.