ONYX

Human, intersectional feminist, antiracist, environmentalist, activist. Artist, architect, performer, dancer, educator, choreographer. Born in Lisbon, of Portuguese and Angolan descent.

She completed a degree in Architecture at FAUTL in 2007, followed by a postgraduate degree in Scenography in 2009. In the same year, she completed the “Scenography, Dance, and Architecture” program in Paris at École Nationale d’Architecture and CND. In 2012, she earned a degree in Dance in Lisbon.

As an independent artist, she has created and performed several choreographic works, including Periférico in collaboration with Vhils for BoCA Biennale (2017); HIP. a pussy point of view (2019); .G Rito (2021); and ONYX (2024).

In 2023, she began her work as artistic director and curator of the OU.kupa festival, focused on emerging choreographers in street and clubbing dance, as well as archival collection and construction. She continuously studies Hatha Yoga and Advaita Vedanta and recently completed courses on Immersion in African Philosophies in Dialogue with Contemporary Values with Katiuscia Ribeiro, and Decolonizing Curatorial and Artistic Practices with Kathy-Ann Tan. She continues exploring alternative ways of understanding intersectionality in being and making through astrology, tarot, yoga, and non-Eurocentric philosophies.

Her dance journey began in 1999 with Raqs Sharqi and Raqs Baladi, which she further developed into theoretical research and the practical construction of fusion vocabularies. Since 2006, she has embarked on a path of learning, research, and teaching Afro-North American-origin street and clubbing dances (Breakdance, Hip Hop, House, Vogue, Waacking) in Europe and New York, both in formal and informal contexts. In 2006, she founded the female crew ButterflieSoulFlow, centered on dance, DJing, and graffiti. In 2012, she founded the collective Orchidaceae; in 2019, the Vogue PT chapter; and since 2025, she has been part of the House of Revlon.

Since 2012, she has focused on researching the fusion and intersection of these dance languages to create new vocabularies and deepen understanding of their political and social contexts. She has been teaching in Portugal since 2006 and internationally since 2014.

As a performer, she has collaborated with Kwenda Lima, Alice Joana Gonçalves, Filipa Francisco, Tiago Guedes, Victor Hugo Pontes, Ricardo Ambrózio, Tânia Carvalho, Raquel Castro, Boris Charmatz, Cristina Planas Leitão, and Marco da Silva Ferreira.