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ALEX LIMA (more details...)

Born in countries where the climate incites torpor and the siesta, Latin rhythms and dances such as Salsa, Samba and Forró now inspire partying enthusiasts from colder lands.
The nights of the great European capitals now pulse with music born in the sweltering regions of Latin America, and dance classes that have sprung up all over demonstrate  how deeply ingrained dance is in our very genetic makeup, whatever one’ s temperament.
But lessons, be they related to dance or anything else, also entail theory and codification, which risk shutting up these  dances - created and practiced spontaneously in the street – in established systems and hindering the creativity of an activity that was born as a means of escape from the whip and chain.
Born in Sao Paulo of Amerindian, African and European descent, Alex Lima, who has been living in Paris for the last six years, wants to avoid at all costs this insidious pitfall that can ensnare virtually any teacher, particularly in the exceedingly artistic field of dance.

Alex Lima’s dream is to give back to dance its emotional dimension, its sensuality, its musicality, while returning to its original social function of being an exchange between human beings and an outlet for the trials of daily life.
These qualities can make one forget for a moment the pain of slavery, but inevitably lose their intensity when dance becomes a product for human consumption like any another in this time of leisure and commercial pleasures.

Lima’s aim is to let the heart and soul of dancers express themselves freely, without rejecting any influence, subtly mixing styles and artistic and musical genres without denying their uniqueness or originality.
For him there is not one, but many cultures, and from each one a dance is born; but it is by combining them, by telescoping them that they will be protected from deterioration and decline.

Easier said than done, and Alex Lima is well aware of the risk he is taking. It is not a question of forming all these ingredients into a heavy, indigestible paste, but rather into a subtle mixture, in which one can recognize, in any given moment, the original flavor, infused by the others.
He assumes this risk by thoroughly exploring every path, every influence, rejecting nothing that he has not tested and examined from every angle. It’s an exhaustive research which allows him to develop an original and inimitable style, one which is recognized internationally, as evidenced by his regular invitations from across the continents to share not only his training techniques of the diverse dances that he has mastered and for which he was the first to popularize in Paris (Gafieira Samba, Samba Rock, Forrò, Frevo, Maracatu...), but also his perceptions of the countries and cultures where they can be found.

Alex has been hooked on dancing since his childhood, when, hidden under the table with his brothers and sisters, he would watch his parents dancing in the kitchen. Since then, he hasn’t been able to stop moving to the rhythms of all kinds of music:  first street dancing, which he literally learned in the street, then samba through the "Camisa verde E branca" school of Samba, and finally, between two scooter deliveries across São Paulo, Zouk (which has a Brazilian flavor), Cha-Cha, Bolero, Rumba, Salsa and more.

So well and so quickly did this street urchin learn that in no time he had become a master.
At 16 years old he began giving lessons, first to his friends, then at a dance school and in dance halls.
He also became one of the principal dancers of  "A Tribo", a Brazilian Salsa group, which performed in the most celebrated dance halls of São Paulo.

His influences, acquired at a very young age, inspire him to reflect on the practice of dance that he learned in Brazil, and his presence in Paris since 1998 will enable him to build his artistic project while freeing himself from the constraints and obligations which can stagnate any expression of creativity when one becomes confined by those limitations without looking at what others are doing.

Although he did not speak a word of French upon his arrival in Paris, Alex Lima has become one of the city’s leading Salsa teachers. He quickly created and developed the ‘’Brazil Style’’, a delicate combination of Cuban, Colombian, Puerto Rican and, of course, Brazilian rhythms and dances.