Trained in theatre at the Federal University of Pernambuco, his home region in north-east Brazil, and in dance with the Groupe Experimental in Recife, Calixto Neto settled in France in 2013. He pursued his career with the Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier. After joining the company of choreographer Lia Rodrigues, he began working as a performer with leading figures in contemporary dance such as Volmir Cordeiro, Anne Collod and Mette Ingvartse. At the same time, he tried his hand at creating solos, such as petites explosions, oh!rage and Outrar, commissioned by Lia Rodrigues. This allowed him to develop a choreographic language that confronts decolonial issues and looks at the representations and assignations of black and LGBT+ bodies. In 2020, his work led him to revive the famous solo O Samba do crioulo doido, by choreographer Luiz de Abreu.

Through his work, Calixto Neto questions the place of black bodies in Brazilian society and the stereotypes that are projected onto them, between fetishism and exoticism. This is particularly true of his recent production O Samba do crioulo doido, a revival of a legendary solo created by Luiz de Abreu in 2004. In it, the dancer plays on stereotypes, the better to thwart them, through a game of shadows and contortions set against a backdrop of Brazilian flags tied together. Calixto Neto's body frees itself from these stereotypes and gradually unfolds, miming different assignments that refer to labour, sexuality or carnival, to better neutralise them and reclaim its own envelope. It's an iconic performance that allows the subject-performer to free themselves from their status as an object for the gaze of others, to regain full control of their movements and their emotional journey on stage. 

In 2023, Calixto Neto will revive his show Feijoada, in a new version entitled Feijoada - Recréation. Accompanied on stage by musicians and dancers gathered around a roda de samba - a group of artists around a table - the songs alternate with readings, dances and the different stages in the preparation of this iconic dish. A symbol of Brazilian gastronomy, feijoada is a dish whose origins are open to debate, but which invariably evokes the cuisine of the most underprivileged social classes. Made from the cheapest cuts available, it still functions as a powerful social metaphor today. This new version brings together the project's core team (Calixto Neto, Ana Laura Nascimento and Yure Romão) and a new team of Brazilian musicians and performers based in Portugal, to launch a new reflection on the relationship between Brazil, Portugal and the Afro-Brazilian diaspora.