Sophie Contreras, Director, Passista Vila Isabel & Samba Instructor

Sophie Contreras is a samba instructor, latin dancer, trained Physiotherapist, & Pilates Instructor.  She is also a Passista for the Rio samba schools of GRES Unidos de Vila Isabel and G.R.E.S.E Império da Tijuca. Sophie travels to Brazil regularly to train with the best Brazilian artists, ensuring she stays up to date with samba and also to take part in the famous Rio Carnaval, parading in the Passista ala for her school. Sophie has been teaching samba around Melbourne since 2015 when she founded Fisica Dance and prior to that taught for DanceMyWay Brazilian and Latin dance company at Pineapple Dance studios in Covent Garden, London, while living in the UK. 

Sophie first  began her Latin dance training in 2000 in Latin ballroom in Melbourne before later taking up salsa and subsequently samba in 2011. Sophie has travelled extensively and lived abroad for many years and has had the chance to train with dance professionals in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba and Europe.

Sophie decided to combine all her dance, Pilates  and movement teaching experience and  follow her true passion to create Fisica. Although she no longer practices as a Physio, Fisica combines her professional knowledge with dance teaching - helping students  gain a deeper awareness of their body and their own movement. Sophie is passionate about teaching and loves the way dance, movement and music can help her students gain self confidence, fitness and well being regardless of age or experience.

Grace Mackay, Samba Instructor & Passista Mocidade

With a Diploma in Classical Ballet from the National Theater Ballet School dance Grace MacKay has always been passionate about dance and physical fitness. Achieving her certificate 4 in Training and Assessment in 2010 she began teaching Pilates, Yoga and Zumba while managing a Pilates and Yoga studio in Sydney.

Living in New Zealand, UK and Australia and travelling extensively has allowed Grace many opportunities and exposure to different cultures and dance styles which has lead to finding Brazilian Samba. Grace first started learning samba with Fisica Dance in 2017 and rapidly became on of Fisica’s top dancers, leading her team mates and performing in professional shows. Within a year of commencing her samba training, Grace competed with the Fisica Dance senior samba team taking out first place in the open team division of the World Salsa solo in Brisbane in 2018. In 2019 Grace placed second in the semi-professional samba soloist category.

Along with Sophie, Grace has recently returned from Brazil where she was invited to be a Passista for the Rio samba school G.R.E.S.E Império da Tijuca training intensively for 3 weeks with the likes of Gabriel Castro, Alex Coutinho, Victor Allonzo, Marcus Prado to mention a few.

Gabriel Almeida, Portuguese teacher

Born and raised in São Paulo city and then later the São Paulo state countryside, Gabriel developed a passion for helping people through language after he graduated from university. Gabriel has worked in both tertiary and commercial language schools, as well as running private classes, teaching people of all ages both Portuguese and English. He holds a Bachelor  of Languages from Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas in Brazil, graduating in 2015. He has 6 years’ experience teaching both Portuguese and English.

Gabriel translates our international online dance workshops that are delivered by Brazilian artists in Portuguese, for the Australian audience. He also teaches Portuguese workshops for dancers to develop familiarity with common terminology and language frequently used in dance classes delivered by Brazilian samba teachers