He is a founding member and artistic director of Eira. He is internationally recognised as one of the leading figures of the contemporary dance movement that began in the late 1980s in Portugal, performing across Europe, America, Africa and Asia, with landmark works in the history of Portuguese dance such as the solo performances “O Rei no Exílio” and “Nossa Senhora das Flores” and the group pieces “Dom São Sebastião” and “Gust”. He was awarded the Bordalo Prize by Casa da Imprensa in the field of dance (1995 and 1997) and the ACARTE/Maria Madalena de Azeredo Perdigão Prize by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1994/95), alongside a Special Mention for the same prize (1992/93). He has presented shows co-choreographed with Mónica Lapa, Vera Mantero, Carlota Lagido, Vera Mota, Sílvia Real, Meg Stuart, Elena Córdoba, Magnum Soares and Kotomi Nishiwaki, as well as pieces co-directed with Fernanda Lapa and Miguel Abreu. He directed the monologue “Ódio” by Jorge Humberto Pereira for Fernanda Lapa and the play “A Companhia dos Lobos” by Angela Carter for the Escola de Mulheres. She created choreographic interventions for a work by Pedro Cabrita Reis at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bonn, for the Francis Bacon exhibition at the Serralves Museum, and also for the exhibition “Jeff Wall – Time Stands Still. Photographs, 1980–2023’ at MAAT, alongside the projects for unconventional spaces ‘Performers Anónimos’ and ‘Danças Privadas’.
Also of note is the exhibition “Francisco Camacho 1982/2022. Around dance: traces and presences”, which was on display at the Teatro da Cerca de São Bernardo (Coimbra) and the National Museum of Theatre and Dance (Lisbon), the first exhibition on contemporary dance at this institution. After a stint with Ballet Gulbenkian as an intern (1984–86), he danced with Paula Massano, a pioneering choreographer of Portuguese contemporary dance, and subsequently with Creach/Koester, Alain Platel, Carlota Lagido, Miguel Moreira and Filipa Francisco, among other choreographers. Notable is his regular collaboration with Meg Stuart, particularly as the lead in “BLESSED”, with over a hundred performances to date, and, more recently, in the co-creation “steal you for a moment”. He has appeared as an actor in theatre productions by Lúcia Sigalho, Miguel Moreira and Tonan Quito. He studied dance and theatre in Portugal (National Ballet Company and Ballet Gulbenkian) and in New York (Merce Cunningham Dance Studio, Movement Research, Susan Klein School and Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute), and received additional training in voice, screenwriting and creative writing. He teaches regularly in Portugal and abroad.
