‘You accept there will be challenges in a new country. Living with 12 people in a three-bed house was mine’

For Alessandra Azevedo, Ireland has given her many things: the opportunity to learn English, a husband, and the space to develop her passion for dance and art.

“I really wanted to express myself as an artist, but I always oppressed that side of me. I thought it was too much, I’m already living abroad, I already have some privilege that people in my home place don’t have, and now I wanted to be a professional dancer?” she says.

“I was such a dreamer. But my husband told me I could do it. He encouraged me to be myself. He knew how much happier you can be when you’re doing what you.”

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Born in Salvador in Brazil, Azevedo’s family moved to São Paulo when she was a young child. She describes the area in which she grew up as underprivileged, but says the real tragedy occurred at the age of 12, when her father was killed.

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“I am still coping with that. It felt cruel that he was just another number in the system, that he was just another black guy, or just another person being killed accidentally,” the now 33-year-old says.

“At first, I was thinking of revenge: I wanted to find those people and kill them, because I was a teenager. It’s a childish thing, but at the same time you understand there has been an injustice done.”

Following his death, her family went through a very difficult time, and returned to Salvador for two years to be supported by family. This is where Azevedo found her love of dance and Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, which her father had spoken about when she was younger.

“It helped me relate to my dad, because he used to sing a song from Salvador, and he used to talk about Capoeira. It’s about embracing your own culture, and being proud of being black and things like that. It was a way to connect with him. There’s a legacy there,” she adds.

At the age of 21, a racist encounter resulted in Azevedo deciding to leave Brazil, and move to France, where she lived for three months before returning to São Paulo. Still not feeling at home in Brazil, a friend persuaded her to come to Ireland to learn English and work. Arriving in 2015, she has lived here for the past seven years.

The first three years were particularly difficult, she says. In the beginning of her time in Ireland, she worked in jobs that she describes as “exploitative” and lived in houses with up to 12 other people.

“When you’re moving to a new country, you have to accept there are going to be challenges. Living with 12 people in a three-bedroom house was mine. There were four people in my room, there was no privacy,” she says.

She struggled to cope with the difficulties of her new life, and eventually was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where she was placed on medication for anxiety.

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But the early days of her time in Ireland were not all dark. Shortly after her arrival in Ireland she met her now husband of five years, Patrick Stefan. Their romance began with a chance encounter at Electric Picnic. She laughs: “I never went back [to the festival], I got what I needed.”

Eventually leaving the work that made her feel exploited, she secured a job as a cleaner in Trinity College Dublin. This was the job her mother did when she was growing up, but she wanted to do something else.

That’s when she started to teach Capoeira, and when she felt she was “finally being taken seriously as a dancer and teacher in Ireland”.

“My friend helped me set up my first dance workshops and from this I set up an Afro-Brazilian dance group. We started to get invited to festivals and shows and my dance career gained momentum,” she says.

“It was an exciting time of collaboration, community building, performing and sharing my ancestral art.”

A year later, she was awarded an Arts Council community bursary, which is when she says things “really accelerated”.

“I had been hosting workshops, teaching Capoeira and dance in Dublin City Council parks and worked with the American Embassy in a celebration of Frederick Douglas that featured black Irish creatives,” she says.

All of this culminated when she was finally able to pursue dance full-time, which she says was a dream come true.

“It’s not that I have a lot of money, not at all. But I’m a believer. I don’t want to give up my dreams, I want to keep teaching dance.”

Azevedo has been working with Dublin City Council and the Five Lamps Arts Festival for the past five years to highlight the importance of sport and dance in the north inner city community.

“I work with the community, with people in vulnerable positions, people with mental health issues, people with addiction problems, because I live in the inner city,” she says. “I wanted to give my time and my love to those communities that sometimes aren’t looked after.”

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Her next big project is called Hive City Legacy, which will be performed at the Dublin Fringe Festival in September.

“There is this hive of black females and then we’re making a show for fringe. It’s beautiful, we’re making the show together. It is joyful, but at the same time we’re going to say things like — stop asking where am I from originally.”

Despite the initial challenges, she now feels at home in Ireland, though she does not necessarily want to stay here forever.

“Home is where your heart is. Home is where you can pay the bills. This is Ireland for me now. I feel like I’m on the right path for my life now. Home could be another country after. I love Ireland, yes I do, I relate to the people here, but if I moved to another country I would try to relate to them as well.”

We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish