Mining yesterday’s fertile ground for tomorrow’s groundbreaking work

Repertory and Composition Workshop by Dante Puleio - Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance, School of Theatre and Dance, College of the Arts, University of Florida (Florida, USA). 

Dante Puleio is a Jersey boy. He trained at the Laban Centre in London, Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, UK and received his BFA from University of the Arts, Philadelphia. After a diverse performing career including the Limón Dance Company, national and international Broadway tours, television and movie appearances, he received his MFA from University of CA, Irvine. He holds an appointment as Visiting Assistant Professor in Dance at University of Florida and continues staging Limón work, creating original work, teaching and performing worldwide. www.dantepuleio.com   

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

How can contemporary choreography engage audiences with dance history while also thrilling them with innovative and exciting new works? Can traditional American modern dance act as a springboard for new, visionary storytelling? Can harvesting the ingenuity of the past help create a bridge to provocative choreographic futures?

This repertory and composition workshop allows the prospective choreographer to canvas these questions. Exploring tasks given to dancers from the early days of modern dance, Dante will guide participants towards generating movement that gives rise to their unique voices and original work. Breathing new life into choreography created for generations past, we will discover how that vocabulary can evolve and make sense on the contemporary body. From personal perspective and interpretation, each participant will have the opportunity to explore how the reimagining of an older modern dance work may reveal a deeper truth and relevance for new audiences.

As a former soloist and principal for the Limón Dance Company, Dante can offer participants the opportunity to learn a portion of phrase work from José Limón’s repertory. The movement learning process will include insight and history: what the movement meant to convey and the context in which it was created and performed. Participants will then be given tasks to manipulate and investigate what they’ve learned. Being tasked with exercises to examine and deepen their point of view, will help weave together what they are saying and how they want to say it.

The workshop will conclude with a brief showing of the explorations. Participants will share their experiences engaging with dance history, learning new tools for movement generation, and paving new pathways to visionary storytelling.