Raffaella Falchi is the Founder and Artistic Director of Sambaxé Dance Company, founded in 2008. She began studying Brazilian dance in 1996 and has studied extensively with dancers and choreographers in Rio de Janeiro & Bahia, Brazil. She has been teaching Brazilian inspired movement & dance to both adults and youth in San Francisco for the last decade and is passionate about continuing to share Brazilian culture through music and dance retreats in Brazil, Cuba and Mexico. Her company has performed in theaters, dance festivals and events locally and internationally.

In addition to leading Sambaxé, she is a Brazilian Samba Dance instructor at ODC/Dance. Outside of dance, she is the Executive Director at Youth Art Exchange, which offers free visual and performing arts classes to San Francisco public high school students. She holds a MArch from California College of the Arts and a BA from UC Berkeley in Psychology and Art.