About Mariana Oliveira
Originally from Brazil, Mariana Oliveira (CBA ’18) has created works for the New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute, Joffrey Ballet Winning Works, Kansas City Ballet, Carolina Ballet, BalletX, Ballet West Academy, Ballet Memphis, Richmond Ballet, Dayton Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Madison Ballet, National Choreographers Initiative, Ballet Arkansas, American Midwest Ballet, Chicago Repertory Ballet, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, The University of Oklahoma School of Dance, among others. Oliveira is also a recipient of the Kansas University Choreographic Fellowship. She is the founder of The Union Project Dance Company, and her works were presented at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, McCallum Theatre Choreography Festival, LA Dance Festival, and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Oliveira studied at the Royal Academy of Dance in Brazil and London and was a trainee dancer with the National Dance Company of Wales and Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami.
Uirapuru
At the Center for Ballet and the Arts, Oliveira worked on a new narrative ballet entitled Uirapuru. The piece was inspired by the Brazilian folk tale of the same name. The Uirapuru, also known as the “musician wren,” is a rare bird found in the Amazon rainforest and is the subject of several legends and fables due to its unique and beautiful song. Set to the famous composition Uirapuru, by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, Oliveira’s adaptation tells the story of a forbidden love in the 1940s.
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