The dancer, choreographer and teacher, Rodolpho Leoni, began studying dance in his home country Brazil and later attended the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance in New York for three years on a scholarship. Leoni moved to Germany in 1988, where he now lives and works. His productions since 2000 include Sarara Tangled, The Thread, Inherent Simplicities, Garatéia – Samburá, Kess Keton and Baud. Leoni was awarded the 5. German Producers Prize for Choreography (DPC) 2005/2006 for Speak. In December 2006 he created If and only if  for the Folkwang Tanzstudio and since January 2007 is Professor of Modern Dance at the Folkwang Academy.