An autodidact by nature, Rafael Smadja encountered hip hop culture in 1998 and in 2003, he left the world of martial arts for the art of dance. He was guided along his choreographic path by Imad Nefti and Olivier Lefrançois, both of them dancers, teachers, and choreographers. From 2012 to 2015, he perfected his interpretive skills with Lene Boel, Yann Marussich, Tali Serruya, Olé Khamchanla and Stéphane Fortin. In 2016, he joined the BurnOut company for the duet Compact.