For over 78 years, the School of Dance at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo is the major dance teaching institution in the city of São Paulo, offering costless classes for children, youngsters and adults.

Founded in 1940 under the name of Escola Experimental de Dança Clássica (Experimental School of Classic Dance) and the direction of Vaslav Veltchek, it’s main intention was to train amateur dancers to fill empty spaces in the dance teams for the big local and international lyrical assemblies when they came to São Paulo. Three years later, when a need for broader training spaces surfaced, the school oved to a new address at the Baixos do Viaduto do Chá, under the new name of Escola Municipal de Bailado.

In May 2011, under the management of Susana Yamauchi, the school changed its name to Escola de Dança de São Paulo (São Paulo School of Dance) and its headquarters moved to Praça das Artes. It was only in 2017 when the school went by the name of Escola de Dança de São Paulo, after dancer and producer Priscilla Yokoi became the director, changing the institution’s focus to training students and preparing them for the workforce.

Nowadays, the School houses over 1.000 students linked to an extended curricular project. At the Dance Training Programme, the aspiring dancer can develop their artistic and technical vocation, through fourteen subject areas distributed between nine years of education, until they reach the desired refinement for their professional autonomy. The School offers many free courses for adults as well, under the same teaching body but for a much shorter period of time (10 months).

Stretching beyond theoretical and practical baselines, the School of Dance at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo holds performances, exhibits, spectacles and open classes in public spaces, all opportunities for the students to grow as artists.

**To become a student at the School of Dance, it is mandatory to go through one of the Recruiting Process held annually and published in the call notices.

Praça das Artes
Av. São João, 281 > 4° e 5° andares
+55 11 3225-8244
escoladedanca@prefeitura.sp.gov.br

Business Hours:
Mondays to Fridays (except for public holidays) – from 8AM to 9PM
Saturdays – from 8AM to 4PM