Armando Duarte, Professor, Contemporary Choreographer, Researcher of the Brazilian Popular Culture, and Director of Dance Production joined the UI in 1993. He has received numerous awards at Iowa and elsewhere throughout his career and has created works for companies in the US, Brazil and other countries, with more than half of his repertory being based or related to his native Brazilian culture.

In Brazil, he has directed workshops and offered lectures for universities and professional companies such as the São Paulo Companhia de Danças, Bale da Cidade de São Paulo, Das Los Grupo de Dança, Escola de Bale do teatro Bolshoi do Brasil among others.

Currently, his academic research involves an in-depth investigation on the Brazilian popular culture of Samba and Carnival, for what he created courses that offers students a theoretical and practice experiences on many aspects related to Samba and Carnival in Brazil. He has been presenting lectures on the subject at the University of New Mexico, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, San Diego State University, Ohio State University, Denison University, Augustana College and other institutions. In addition, he has shared his investigation on this subject at the Popular Culture Association Conference (PCA) in San Antonio, TX (2011), Washington, DC (2013), New Orleans, LO (2014), Seattle, WA (2016), San Diego, CA (2017) and Indianapolis (2018).

At the University of Iowa, he is a two-time winner of the Iowa Old Gold Summer Fellowship; and has received several grants from the Support Program for Arts and Humanities, the Arts and Humanities Initiative Program, and the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies Interdisciplinary Research Grant.

Courses Taught 

• Graduate Seminar in Dance
• Choreography IV (Graduate Level)
• Brazilian Culture and Carnival (General Education)
• Majors Modern Technique - Levels 2 and 3
• Teaching of Modern and Contemporary Dance Forms (Pedagogy)