ARA movement
ARA Movement is a dance company rooted in the belief that movement opens conversations. Regardless of whether it is on the stage or in the studio, we aim for every person in the room to be part of the discussion, not just a witness to it.
We create original choreographic work built around questions worth sitting with. Work that invites audiences to feel, to respond, and to leave with something they didn’t arrive with. We believe the conversation doesn’t begin when the curtain rises. It begins the moment you step through the door.
Everything we do is approached with care. For the people we work with, for the craft, and for what we put out into the world.
Who we are
ARA Movement was founded by Ana Raquel Azevedo. Originally from Portugal and now based in the UK, Ana is a choreographer whose practice is built on deep listening to the body, to the person within it, and to the community around it.
Ana’s work is trauma-informed, which means every class and every piece she creates begins with the same question: what does this person need to feel safe enough to move freely? That question shapes everything: how she teaches, how she choreographs, and how she holds space for the people who walk through her door.
Her practice moves fluidly between the studio and the stage. In class, she creates an environment where all bodies are welcome, and curiosity is encouraged. In her choreographic work, she takes those same values of gentleness, boldness, and honesty and builds them into pieces that ask something of their audience.
Our classes and workshops
Ballet and coffee class
Wednesdays 10.30-11.30 am plus a coffee meet up after
£7.50
Address: Unit 16, Masons Place Business Park, Nottingham Road, Chaddesden, Derby DE21 6AQ
free parking
Ballet & Coffee is a weekly adult ballet class designed for enjoyment. Whether you have never set foot in a studio or you are finding your way back to dance, this class is for you. Every exercise comes with options, so you can move at your own pace and in your own way, without ever feeling left behind.
But the class is only half of it. After every session, we head to a nearby coffee shop to carry on the conversation, because some of the best things about trying something new are the people you meet along the way.
Ballet is for everyone. We are just making sure it feels that way.
Creative movement class
Monthly ( enquire for the next available date) 19.30-20.30 pm
£9.50
Address: St Nicholas Church, 2 Lawn Avenue, Allestree, Derby, DE22 2PE
Free parking
Once a month, we create space to slow down, tune in, and come back to ourselves. The Creative Movement class is a monthly invitation to reconnect with your body, your creativity, and what you are carrying.
As adults, we are rarely given permission to play. Somewhere along the way, the freedom to move without purpose, to be silly, to explore without a goal, gets left behind. This class is an invitation to pick it back up.
Through guided exercises and open improvisation, we explore what the body holds: stress, emotion, energy, and find new ways to move through it. Every session is different, because every month brings something new. Whether you arrive needing to let go or simply wanting to explore, there is space for you.
No experience is needed, and no performance is expected. Just you, the music, and the freedom to move however feels right.
This is a judgment-free space built on the belief that creativity and well-being are not separate things. They live in the same body. We help you find them.
Available on request
Progressive Ballet Technique (PBT) is an innovative body-conditioning and strengthening program designed to support dancers in developing core stability, alignment, weight placement, and muscle memory. Widely used in ballet training, PBT helps students improve technique through targeted exercises that build strength, control, and awareness, enhancing both performance quality and injury prevention.
Progressive Ballet Technique Level 3
Our Events
This is ballet for you and your baby. You’ll move, stretch, and dance with your little one in your arms or by your side, making it up as you go, at your own pace. No experience needed, no pressure, no leaving anyone at the door. Just you, your baby, and a room full of other parents doing exactly the same thing.
After class, we head to a nearby coffee shop because good movement deserves good coffee.
The ARA Choreography Intensive was three full days of studio work built around one simple idea that movement is something you find. Participants dug into choreographic techniques, pushed into improvisation on their own and with others, and came away with a genuinely expanded sense of how they move and why. No performance polish required. Just honest creative work. At the end of the intensive, everyone had the chance to share what they’d made as a curtain raiser for one of Déda’s shows.
Past Work
Motus
Co-choreographed by Ana Raquel Azevedo and Esme Blood
Motus is a personal inquiry into what it means to want to move and to be moved by something beyond yourself.
Derived from Proto-Italic, the word motus carries within it a quiet urgency. Not the grand gesture, but the impulse before it. The moment the body decides, before the mind catches up.
This piece sits with that moment. It asks what lives in the space between stillness and action, between feeling something and allowing it to surface. It does not offer answers. It offers a presence, one that invites the audience to turn inward and notice what stirs in them, too.
Motus is an intimate work. It does not perform emotion. It moves through it
The Santos Azevedo house
Rooted in Portuguese culture and the experience of living far from home, this piece traces a journey through identity, memory, and belonging. It asks what it means to carry a culture within you, and what happens when that culture meets the country you now call home. It honours the emigrants who are brave enough to build a new life while holding tightly to the one they left behind.
The choreographic research behind this work moved through many territories. From the relationship between the Portuguese people and the sea, to the rituals of the family table, to the music of the traditional guitar and Fado, each section of the piece grew from a different layer of culture and personal experience. Ana drew from her own life as a Portuguese woman and immigrant, using the studio as a space to translate memory into movement.
The process also explored what separates one generation of emigrants from the next. The older generation, who arrived without the language, built their lives quietly and with great courage. And the younger generation, who carry the same roots but move through the world differently. Both are present in this work.
The result is a piece that does not simply represent Portuguese culture. It questions how culture is perceived, how it is carried, and what it means to transform it into art so that it can be witnessed and felt by everyone in the room.
Why?
This choreographic piece explores the emotional and social impact of judgment, silence, and harmful cultural attitudes. Rooted in research and personal reflection, the work considers how difficult experiences can shape identity, self-perception, and the way individuals move through the world.
Through movement, the choreography examines themes of vulnerability, resilience, fear, strength, and recovery. It reflects on the pressures created by social expectations, while also creating space for voices and experiences that are often overlooked or misunderstood. Rather than offering clear answers, the piece invites the audience to reflect on empathy, responsibility, and the importance of listening with greater care and awareness.
By combining physical expression with an emotionally driven creative process, the work aims to open a sensitive and thoughtful conversation around experiences that are too often left unspoken
Contact Us
Email: anaraquelazevedo.dance@gmail.com
© 2025 ARA Movement · All Rights Reserved
Privacy | Terms & Disclaimer
