The Story of Natalia Rocha

Natalia holds multiple degrees in pedagogy and arts, both Bachelor's and Licentiate, blending education and art. She is an invited researcher for Mapeamento Acessa Mais, a project in partnership with the Ministry of Culture (Minc) and UFBA.

Additionally, she began practicing improvisation under the guidance of Professor Lembra Rengel—Corponectivo—which later became a research group.

In 2014, she joined the Improvisation Group X, participating in the following productions: “Mais ou Menos depois do meio” (2015); “Fulaninhas” (2018); “Se quiser, deixe sua lembrança!” (2016–2019); “Se você quiser…” (2018); and “Dançando Godot” (2022).

In 2015, she completed her Master’s degree in Dance at UFBA, researching the concept of the double in digital dance.

Since 2020, she has also worked as a consultant in Audio Description and Cultural Accessibility.

Natalia’s PhD research in Dance at UFBA focuses on attentiveness practices with disabled artists, exploring their existential territories, the process of becoming disabled, and the unique methodologies, aesthetics, and poetics of these bodies.

  "One of them is the gesture of consideration, which calls for coexistence without hierarchies or prejudgments, allowing our DEF bodies to communicate for themselves.”  

  "Attentive gestures do not aim to create models; they are guidelines for building a practice together, open to improvisation, with emotional harmony and co-presence."  

The question posed by Natalia is answered through an aesthetic play of proportions and disproportions, transforming the line into colorful fabrics; the needle and embroidery become her own body, which dances with these fabrics.

Natalia Rocha’s story shows that, by dancing with the nuances of her own existence, she transforms oppressions into creations, inviting us to appreciate dance as a space of co-presence, where each body is a creative force.