Jacob's Pillow Dance

directed the Mimulus Cultural Association, Mimulus Dance Company and Mimulus Dance School since 1990, and is a ballroom professor at FAMEC University in Curitiba. His innovative movement vocabulary for ballroom dance has resulted in many SESC/SATED prizes, including Best Choreographer in 2001, 2002 and 2010. Well-known to audiences in France, Mesquita traveled to Lyon to serve as the special guest for the opening of the Maison de la Danse season in 2005, 2006 and 2010. He and his company participated in the Biennale de la Danse in 2002, 2006 and 2010. As part of his engagement in that festival, Mesquita taught open classes in a public square attracting an attendance of more than 600 people. Mimulus Dance Company also performed at Jacob's Pillow in 2007 and 2008 and the Danza International Festival in Spain in 2007 and 2009. Mesquita was named Most Outstanding Artist at the last two Tango World Summits in Sevilla, Spain in 2005 and Valparaíso, Chile in 2007. He has completed the course Pedagogy of Movement to Dance Teaching at the Fine Arts School at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and is preparing to develop a Master's Degree project in Stage Performing Arts: Theories and Practices. Mesquita conducts extensive research on ballroom and social dances in their countries of origin. As a result, he has introduced genres like Lindy Hop from the USA, Rueda de Casino from Cuba and Bachata from the Dominican Republic to dancers and dance audiences in Brazil.