Originally from Lisbon, Portugal, Mariana (she/her) completed her dance training at the Royal Ballet School in London. She then joined Northern Ballet where she performed a wide range of works and toured extensively across the U.K. In recent years she also developed her strengths as a choreographer, creating and directing “Little Red Riding Hood”, a ballet for children (later filmed for CBeebies), and “Termagant”, a piece that won Mariana the “Emerging Choreographer Award” in the Dance Open America Competition. Prior to leaving Northern Ballet, Mariana was a part of its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Panel, established with the help of Tonic.
My role involves many different things! The main ones would be planning and delivering workshops and training, consultancy, research and working on different projects. This includes doing a lot of listening, and thinking creatively to ensure that our approach is driving the change we want to see.
What’s your favourite thing about working at Tonic?
The team is brilliant and everyone embodies the values that we are trying to convey to others. We are very supportive of one another and incredibly passionate about what we do.
What book/podcast/documentary/etc inspires you the most?
It is hard to pick one, but at the moment I am reading Time to Think by Nancy Kline and I have to say it has inspired me a lot. The author provides a framework to improve the quality of how we think, based on 10 behaviours any of us can embody. This is about creating spaces where everyone has a voice and are able to think for themselves. High quality listening is the key.
