A Seattle native, Lisette Austin began studying dance at age four, and was performing with the nationally-known Bill Evans Dance Company by age eight. Her dance training includes Jazz, Tap, Modern, African, Hip Hop and Ballet. From 1999-2001 Lisette was a member of Fusion Dance Company in Seattle. She also performed with Street Level, a professional Hip Hop company.
In 2004, Lisette saw a Brazilian show at a festival and fell madly in love with Samba. After taking classes from Seattle teacher Janelle Campoverde, she joined the local Brazilian drum and dance ensemble, VamoLá. She later served as VamoLá’s dance director for almost two years.
Since 2004, Lisette has extensively studied Brazilian dance with teachers in Seattle (Dora Oliveira), Portland (Donna Oefinger), San Francisco (Maisa Duke) and Brazil. She has performed with Seattle’s Show Brazil, and in 2007 was a dancer for Portland, Oregon’s professional bateria, Lions of Batucada. She also appeared as a guest dancer with Axé Didé Music and Dance Company in Portland. Over the past seven years, Lisette has performed in countless parades, festivals and stage shows in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.
Lisette is Co-Director of Tudo Beleza and teaches Rio-style Samba dance classes in Seattle. She returns to Brazil regularly to study dance, music and Portuguese.
Shanetta Brown is a Louisiana native now residing in Seattle. She always had a strong affinity for music, dance and performance arts that it feels innate. While living in New Orleans she gained exposure to Brazilian dance and music culture. Instantly she felt a strong connection and keen interest in Brazilian history and arts. She began to learn Afro-Brazilian dance through New Orleans performance group Casa Samba.
Upon moving to Seattle, Shanetta was hoping to find a Brazilian dance community and was thrilled to find it existed. She began taking classes with Janelle Campoverde and Dora Oliveira. Seattle continues to nourish her desires of learning about dance and music from various cultures which heavily influences her sense of purpose.
Shanetta has danced with Janelle’s Samba Girasol, Eduardo Mendoca’s Show Brazil, West African performance group SohoDounia and Afro-Cuban Haitian Folkloric performance group Todo Folklore led by José Carrión.
In addition to being a core dancer with Tudo Beleza, Shanetta sings for TubaLuba which is a jazzy soulful brass band deeply inspired by New Orleans.
Oriana Estrada was born in Managua, Nicaraga but was raised in the vibrant central district of Seattle, Washington. She has loved dancing since a young age and has studied a variety of dance forms including Hip Hop, Salsa, Brazilian, African, Afro-Cuban and more. Music and dance are Oriana’s true passion and she has a particularly strong interest in the music and dance traditions of the African Diaspora.
Some of the groups she has trained and performed with include: Johnny Bravo Dance Company (a Salsa performance group), Seattle Brazilian drum and dance ensemble VamoLá, Eduardo Mendonça’s music and dance group Show Brazil, the ladies salsa styling troupe BOM Squad, Bakra Bata Carribean Steel Drum and Dance Ensemble, and the AFrican ConeXion Project.
Currently Oriana is Co-Director of Tudo Beleza and teaches Rio-style Samba classes in Seattle.
Bianca Mendonça was born and raised in Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia and the Afro-Brazilian cultural heart of Brazil. She has always had a passion for movement, sparked through gymnastics, capoeira and contemporary Brazilian dance classes she took at a very young age in Brazil. Having moved to the United States as a teenager, Bianca began performing and teaching dance with Eduardo Mendonça’s Show Brazil at only 17 years old. Her performances took her across the United States and into Canada. At the age of 19 she completed a residency teaching dance at Hamilton Middle School.
In 2006, Bianca started the dance group Sambrasil in Seattle, and was director and choreographer for two years. In 2011, she graduated from the University of Washington, and now holds a minor degree in dance. Bianca has performed various Brazilian dance styles including Samba no Pe, Frevo, Samba Reggae, Afoxé, Axé and Baiao. She has also studied Swing, Hip Hop, Modern and Ballet.
Bianca has come to understand dance as a tool for cultural expression, and her dance has shaped her strong cultural identity. She is happy to have joined Tudo Beleza as a core dancer.
Daniela (“Dani”) Porto is a native of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. She started dancing at a young age, and took a variety of dance workshops that included hip hop, belly dancing and ballroom dancing. Although Dani came from a family that was not very passionate about dancing or samba, she always wanted to know more about samba music, dance and history.
At 16 years old Dani had the chance to take Axé classes (a form of samba) at her gym – which further fueled her love of samba. She danced with this teacher’s group for 3 years, learning dance technique and how to create choreography. She later had the opportunity to dance with a local “escola de samba” (samba school) in Porto Alegre, where she improved her Rio-style samba.
Dani has been in Seattle about four years, and is excited to be dancing with Tudo Beleza.
