Award winning Portuguese choreographer Rui Horta was born in Lisbon and started to dance at the age of 17 at the Ballet Gulbenkian. He studied, danced and taught contemporary dance for several years in New York, before returning to Portugal, where he directed the Lisbon Dance Company. Later, he formed his own free-lance group, Rui Horta and Friends, and in 1991 was invited to start S.O.A.P., a resident company at the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt, which he led until 1998. Between 1998 and 2000 Rui Horta worked in Munich as choreographer in residence at the Muffathalle. In August 2000 he returned to Portugal (Montemor-o-Novo), where he established a Choreographic research Center in the Convento da Saudação. Since his return he created 'PIXEL', a multimedia / performance event, which won several awards including the Prémio ACARTE 2001 for best performing arts production of the year in Portugal.