Clara Andermatt began her formal training as a dancer with her mother Luna Andermatt. In the field of music she studied piano for ten years. In 1980 the London Studio Centre awarded her a scholarship where she studied for four years, graduating in 1984. She also obtained the Advanced Diploma from the Royal Academy of Dance, London.
She was a dancer with “Companhia de Dança de Lisboa” under the direction of Rui Horta from 1984 to 1988 and with “Compañía Metros” of Ramón Oller in Barcelona from 1989 to 1991.
In 1991 she founded her own dance company, “Companhia Clara Andermatt”. She began a close collaboration with the Cape Verde Islands (West Africa) in 1994 giving classes and workshops and creating several works with Cape Verdian artists from various artistic fields. This has become an on-going collaboration lasting up to the present day.Clara Andermatt has had a very extensive output as a choreographer with nearly 50 works created over the years in Portugal and abroad. She is regularly invited to create works for other companies, to work as an artist-educator, and to participate as a chorographer and actor in films and plays.
Throughout her career Clara Andermatt has received several awards: 1982-83 The BridgetEspinosa Scolarship Award − London; 1983 Best Student Award − London Studio Centre − and 2nd Choreography Prize for “Cake Walk” − London Studio Centre; 1989 1st Choreography Prize of the “III Certamen Coreográfico de Madrid” for “En-Fim”; 1992 Special Mention for the choreography “Mel” − Acarte/Madalena Azeredo Perdigão Award/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; 1994 Acarte/Madalena Azeredo Perdigão Award (together with Paulo Ribeiro) for “Dançar Cabo Verde” − Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; 1999 Almada Prize − awarded by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture for “Uma História da Dúvida” which was also chosen as a special performance of the Almada International Theatre Festival; she was nominated for the SPA/RTP Authors Award for best Choreography with “Void” and “Fica no Singelo”.