Born in Lisbon, Rui Horta started to dance at the age of 17 at the Ballet Gulbenkian. He studied, danced and taught contemporary dance for several years in New York, before returning to Portugal, where he directed the Lisbon Dance Company and was one of the leading forces in the development of the new Portuguese dance. Later with his own free-lance group, he created “Line and Interiors“. With these two pieces he began touring in Europe. He was then invited to start S.O.A.P., a residence Company at the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt.

With S.O.A.P. he created six full-length-programs which toured extensively all over the world, in some of the most important festivals and venues, such as: Steps '92 in Zürich; the turning world '92, '93, '95, '97 and ’99 at The Place Theater in London; Festival International de Nouvelle Danse '92 in Montréal, where he received the 2nd prize from the audience; Oriente Occidente '93 in Rovereto/Italy; Encontros Acarte '93 at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon; “Dancin' City” '94 and '96 in Copenhagen; International Theater Festival '95 in Tokyo; Tanz im August '96 at Hebbel-Theater in Berlin, Vooruit in Gent; Joyce Theater in New York; Harbour Front Center in Toronto; National Arts Center in Ottawa; Moskojew Theater in Moskow, as well as at Maison de la Danse/Lyon and Théâtre de la Ville/Paris in 1995/1996/1997/1998, etc… Rui Horta won the 1st prize at the Rencontre Internationales de Bagnolet, the Bonnie Bird Award and has received several awards from the press. With the Goethe Institute he has often collaborated in different international projects, such as workshops in light design in Budapest and choreographic courses in Moscow, Madrid, Gent, Salvador da Bahia etc... He has curate several creative projects such as the SIWIC in Zurich, Switzerland, the coaching project 2000 in Dusseldorf and the COLINA project, among others. He was invited as a guest teacher in some of the most important dance schools in Europe, such as the Laban Centre, the Conservatoire National de Paris, the Conservatoire National de Lyon and the London School of Contemporary Dance. From 1998 to 2000, Rui Horta worked in München as choreographer in residence at the Muffathalle with the support of the Cultural Council of this City. For this new company (Rui Horta.stage works) he has created a solo piece with the actor/dancer Anton Skrzypiciel “Bones and Oceans” and two new group productions “Zeitraum” and “Blindspot”, which have also toured extensively during the late nineties. In 1998 he was awarded the German Producers Prize for Choreography, a pool of 14 theater
producers awarding every two years a prize to a remarkable work in the German independent
dance scene.

In August 2000 he returned to Portugal (Montemor-o-Novo), where he established a multidisciplinary research and residence center O Espaço do Tempo, in a old monastery of the 16th century – today one of the most important production centers in Portugal. In 2001 he directed his first movie “RUGAS”, and was awarded with the Acarte prize for the best production of that year for his production “PIXEL”. In 2002 he created “LP” for his own
company, and in 2003 he has staged the new production of the French nouvelle cirque company “Les Arts Sauts”.
As a free lance choreographer he has created works for renowned dance companies such as Cullberg Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, Nederlands DansTheater II, Opera de Marseille Dance, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Icelandic Ballet, Noordans, Scottish Dance Theatre etc…
He has also staged Stravinsky's opera “The Rakes Progress” at Theater Basel, for which he also designed lights and sets. In 2005 he has created a new independent production – “Setup”, that had a large international
tour. In this year he also received an award “Prémio Almada” given by the Portuguese Ministry
of Culture. In 2006 Rui Horta, together with João Paulo Santos, created a new piece of new circus in the
area of the Chinese Mast, that was premiered in the Avignon Festival. In 2007, besides a new work with the Staats Theater Nuernberg, he has also worked with the Malmö Opera and has created a new independent production – “Scope”. The international premiere of “Scope” was in Laboral Escena – Ciudad de la Cultura, Gijon, Spain, and the national premiere in CCB - Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon. During 2008 Rui Horta has created pieces for the BareBones Company, for the inclusive dance company “Dançando com a Diferença” and for the National Company of Ballet of Portugal. In June 2008 he was awarded with the Cross of Official of the Order of Infante D. Henrique by the President of the Republic of Portugal by his deeds in the performing arts. In January 2009, he premiered “Zoetrope”, a piece that results from the work of Rui Horta with the electro-acoustic band Micro Audio Waves.
He will be associated artist for 2009/2010 in the Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, where he will create 3 new pieces for this season and will also collaborate with the Remix Ensemble / The House of Music.