Childhood memories ... or some of my childhood best moments ...

Some of my childhood best moments were spent on stage ... whether they were ballet dancing, performing folk adapted dances, playing piano or being the narrator of performing stories ...

If being on stage  meant being looked at, as well as acknowledged and praised for what I was doing or had just done, the whole preparation for those performances provided me with the necessary self esteem I needed in terms of excelling in whatever I had to do (and did) in a permanent effort to bring out the best of me ... and be recognised as an Arts "dedicated" person.

At the age of six following a ballet performance at the Casino of Figueira da Foz

Being photographed was the worst part of the whole thing ... because it was in the movement  and in the theatrical gestures that I felt to "be myself" ... and that's where the secret of my successful appearances used to lie ... not in the momentarily "impersonated" moves in front of the camera ...

At five years of age (following a folk adapted dance exhibition).

We (my brothers and I) always had access the best possible teachers (I now know that at the time Maria Helena Freitas Branco was considered one of the most exigent ballet teachers and so were the others) ...

My mother, the mentor of all of my "artistic ventures" was also the encouraging character, who pushed us forward (though she never saw any of our public performances), aware of the importance of the developing skills ... what she was maybe not aware of, is ... that when we performed, she was the one we wanted to "impress" most and it wasn't until very recently that we realized she was ...

She has kept all the photographs and newspaper references ... and when she proudly talks about our "achievements", it is as if she was there ... (and I am sure she was ...).

At the age of eight, being the narrator of a fairy tale.