Sara Montalvão (1986) is a multidisciplinary artist and creator with body and movement as the core of her research practices and creations. She is interested in memory as the cause and reflection of personal and collective identity and symbolic language as metaphors for dramaturgical research. Sara is especially moved by a naturally anthropological view that connects traditions, rhythms and music with contemporary forms, searching for innovative formats to bridge people and artistic languages.

Sara completed a university degree in Anglo-American Studies at FLUP, University of Porto, 2008. In Argentina she received professional training as an actress (at Augusto Fernandes Studio, Buenos Aires, 2009-2011) and back in Portugal as a contemporary dancer (FAICC Cia Instável, Porto, 2013). In 2018 she did a year of Master Studies in Contemporary Dance by ESMAE / Rivoli, TMP.  In 2020, Sara was in Barcelona for three months training intensively with Olga Alvarez at AREA school.

Sara Montalvão joined several intensive workshops having trained with different choreographers. She remarks as bigger influences what she has received from GAGA with Batsheva Dance Company and Ohad Naharin, Flying Low with David Zambrano, Improvisation with Edivaldo Ernesto and Horacio Macuacua, Intact Method with Rakesh Sukesh, Fighting Monkey with Natalia Pieczuro, Contact Partnering with Luke Jessop and Summer Intensive Performact. Somatic practices, including Susan Klein training, and especially Martial Arts – Kung fu – has a huge impact on Sara’s vision of movement research and philosophy.

Sara is strongly influenced in her research by different movement practices such as physical theatre/clown, urban dances, latin, afro-brazilian, mediterranean and middle-eastern rhythms. She also has puppeteering skills, both in making and manipulating.

Sara Montalvão has a particular professional path dialoguing between different artistic languages and performative spaces, focusing on the body as the main vehicle for her work. Sara is also a teacher and has done an extensive social and inclusive work through performative arts with a wide range of groups in terms of age and cultural background. Sara has lived in Scotland, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, France and Israel.

Since 2013 Sara Montalvão has been maintaining a continuous artistic work, not only as a performer but also developing solo and collaborative creations. She has worked with Mafalda Deville, Miguel Moreira, José Artur Campos, Teresa Alpendurada, Edgar Pêra, CiM / VoArte, Teatro do Mar, Ana Mula and others. 

In 2019/20, Sara premiered and toured "Sombras" - in co-creation and co-performed with Diletta Bindi, with the support of Fundação GDA and several cultural institutions. In 2020 she created an interactive video dance film - "Loop Mental" - with David Negrão, a ground breaking digital visual artist. In 2021, David and Sara joined up again and created and co-directed UNLOOP, a multidisciplinar and collaborative project that brings game design to the stage, summoning different performers and diverse territoires. UNLOOP is focused on the intersection of dance with new media / visual art as a game-performance. In 2022 they took this project deeper with the research BIO LOOP, emerging themselves into neurosciences experimenting new pathways for the gaming proposal intersection of choreography with digital visual art.

Currently Sara is collaborating as a dancer for the catalan based company Agrupación Señor Serrano, in the project "Una Isla", that premiered in July 2023 in Festival Grec, Barcelona. Also, Sara started Simurgh project in 2023, combining live persian and indic music with dance, involving afghani musicians and other Lisbon-based artists.

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Sara has a deep interest in continuing her work as a creator, both with UNLOOP and SIMURGH projects. Unloop investigates on memory and gaming performative acts. Simurgh bridges different communities and artistic languages, focusing on the dialogue between middle eastern music and contemporary dance, involving artists with different origins thus promoting an exchange of disciplines and cultural backgrounds.