Following 12 years of ballet training, Vanessa studied at Lisbon's Escola Superior de Dança and at Laban, BA (Hons) Contemporary Dance & MA Choreography. There they received the Simone Michelle Award for outstanding achievement in Choreography. In 2011, Vanessa was a Southbank Emerging Artist in Residence, received a choreographic commission from En-Knap, Slovenia and was a winner of the BBC Performing Arts Fund Dance Fellowship as a choreographer with Upswing. Professional engagements and collaborators include: Sara Wookey, Annie Hanauer, Alexis Blake, Candoco Dance Company, State of Emergency, Shobana Jeyasingh, Upswing, Fleur Darkin Ensemble, The Generating Company (Coral Messam, Rachel Lopez & Ben Ash), Janine Harrington, Gerrard Martin Dance, Move: Choreographing You (Tânia Bruguera, Pablo Bronstein), Union Dance, to name some. As an artists’ model Vanessa has worked in the main art schools and ateliers in London, for private artists and groups, as well as galleries including the RA and The National Gallery. You can watch Vanessa on ‘Titian - Behind Closed Doors’, BBC.