João dos Santos Martins (Santarém, 1989) is an artist whose work spans various forms within and across dance, exploring formats such as choreography, exhibitions and publishing. He studied dance at the Escola Superior de Dança in Lisbon and at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, and completed a master’s degree in Choreographic Studies between e.x.er.c.e/Paul Valéry II in Montpellier and the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen.

His practice brings together collaborative ways of working that focus on questions of transmission, language and labour. He has created works including Projecto Continuado (2015), Companhia (2018) and Cooperativa (2025), with Ana Rita Teodoro, Clarissa Sacchelli, Daniel Pizamiglio, Filipe Pereira and Sabine Macher; Onde Está o Casaco? (2018), with Cyriaque Villemaux and Ana Jotta; Antropocenas (2017), with Ritó Natálio; and Está Visto (2023), with Ana Jotta, Joana Sá and Filipe Pereira.

As a dancer and performer, he has worked extensively with choreographers Moriah Evans, Xavier Le Roy and Ana Rita Teodoro. He has also appeared works by Eszter Salamon, Jérôme Bel, Boris Charmatz, Marcelo Evelin, Dora García, Manuel Pelmuș and Rui Horta, among others.

His interest in the genealogies of dance history led him to create, together with Ana Bigotte Vieira, Para Uma Timeline a Haver, a framework for collectively mapping dance in Portugal, and to found Coreia, a twice-yearly journal devoted to writings by artists and about the arts. He occasionally writes and curates. Highlights of his curatorial work include Nova—Velha Dança (Santarém, 2017), p de dança (FCG, Lisbon, 2021), the PACAP 4 study programme (2020), and the artistic exchange platforms Salão Coreográfico (Maputo) and Next Step (Macau–Lisbon).

He received the ESD-IPL merit scholarship for 2008/09 and was awarded scholarships and fellowships by danceWeb (2010), CNC (2010), ENPARTS (2010/11), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2011–13) and the Goethe-Institut Salvador-Bahia (2022). He has been an associate artist at O Espaço do Tempo, Circular Associação Cultural, Estúdios Victor Cordón and Materiais Diversos. His work Projecto Continuado (2015) received the SPA Authors’ Award in 2016. His work has been presented extensively in Portugal, as well as in Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Belgium, Austria, Romania, Japan, Brazil, Mozambique, Uruguay, Morocco, Chile, China, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway and the United States.