Kadu Pires from Rio Rhythmics

Kadu Pires

Exposed to samba by his parents and family, Latin dance has been part of Kadu's life from infancy. With formal dance training in samba rock and pagode (extremely popular Brazilian styles) beginning at the age of fifteen, Kadu's appetite for professional tuition saw him quickly expand into zouk-lambada, samba no pé, hip hop and even ballet. In no time Kadu was dancing with the three largest and most popular dance centres in São Paulo; Bar Avenida, Lambar and Carioca Club.

Earning the reputation of São Paulo's, Brazil, 'youngest professional dancer', Kadu became a household name when after appearing in a number of television programs, he obtained a two year contract on Mulheres, a famous program aired on the colossus Brazilian Globo Channel.

"I was dancing with Axel Danças at a time when his academy was the most important Latin dance company in Brazil… I can't stress how much this opened up the world of dance, all of a sudden I was dancing and training with Rogério Mendonza (salsa), Jimmy de Oliveira (samba de gafieira), Rafael Oliveira, Alex de Carvalho, Renata Pecanha, Adilio Porto (all zouk-lambada), and even Henrique Talmah (contemporary)."

Four years passed whilst Kadu learnt from and danced with these renowned Latin dancers; during this time Kadu had moved to Rio de Janeiro where he taught samba de gafieira, bolero and soltinho at Jimmy de Oliveira's Academy for two years. It was here that he met Larissa Thayane and the pair began performing together at major events including Rio de Janeiro's Samba World Congress (the biggest and most respected congress in Brazil).

In 2006, after winning a gold medal in Rio de Janeiro's Conselho Brasileiro de Dança Competition, Kadu and Larissa were invited to perform and conduct workshops in Australia, where they won first place in a Latin dance competition held in Melbourne. Soon after, Kadu and Larissa returned to Australia to take up full time employment with Rio Rhythmics, Australia's largest Latin dance academy, and the centre for samba de gafieira and zouk-lambada in the Asia Pacific region.

Now a veteran of over 40 world class festivals and congresses, Kadu is an internationally recognised performer of the highest calibre and a greatly sought after instructor.