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Holding the auspicious honour of being the first person to ever offer Brazilian dance lessons in Australia, Tarcisio has amassed over 35 years of experience in dance instruction. Prior to founding Rio Rhythmics Latin Dance Academy in 1994, Tarcisio had already more than 20 years of experience as a dance teacher, performer, choreographer and percussionist behind him. A dance graduate of the University of Physical Education in Goiânia, Brazil, Tarcisio has also independently completed hundreds of hours of study in many styles of dance, including ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and modern dance. Tarcisio is a Master of Capoeira, and travels back to his homeland of Brazil more than once a year to further polish and enhance his Latin dance knowledge.

After pursuing an extensive career performing and teaching dance in Brazil, which included directorship of a number of dance programs and schools, Tarcisio immigrated to Australia in 1989. Continuing to perform, Tarcisio also began teaching Capoeira and offered the first authentic Latin dance tuition in Brisbane, at a time where only ballroom existed. Motivated to transfer his knowledge and ability into a system of learning which would allow others to enjoy Latin dance, Tarcisio designed and developed the dance program at Rio Rhythmics, which now offers over 60 dance courses per week. This model has successfully exposed over 26,000 people to the joy of authentic Latin dance through Rio Rhythmics alone, and has proven through replication to be a great model for most academies throughout Australia.

“I would like to permeate Australian culture so completely with the rhythms and energies at the core of Latin dance that people will no longer need dance academies… they will just have a natural ability to express themselves through movement”.

Growing up in Brazil, Tarcisio was an enthusiastic social dancer of many Brazilian styles. Through his teaching, Tarcisio shares his passion, not just for dance, but also for the music and cultural heritage of South America, particularly Brazil. Yearly, Tarcisio runs a guided tour of Brazil for enthusiastic dancers, and he regularly travels through Central and South America, to involve himself in intensive local dance training, ensuring that he keeps abreast of the latest developments in dance. In this way, he can continue to introduce new styles and moves to his instructors and students, keeping the academy’s choreographies and classes fresh and exciting.

Recognised internationally as a key driving force behind the development and promotion of Latin dance, Tarcisio is among a very small number of instructors who influence the shape of dance styles throughout the world; some of his credits include:

Most Recent: Melbourne Latin Festival 2009 – Performer

Sydney Salsa Congress 2009 – Performer

Australia Day Festival & Concert 2009 – Percussionist

Brisbane Brazilian Dance Congress 2008 – Performer & Teacher

Sunshine Coast Multicultural Festuri 2008 – Performer & Teacher

Sunshine Coast Multicultural Festuri 2007 – Performer & Teacher

Career Highlights: Brisbane 2001 Goodwill Games’ Creative Team – Latin Item Director

Australia Council’s Multicultural Advisory Committee Representative

Australia Council of the Arts’ Dance Funds QLD Committee Member

Australian Dance Council’s Interim Competency Standards Project – Reference Group Member

‘The Brazilian Suite’ 99 – QUT – Choreographer