About Gabriella Stazio

Choreographer, dancer, teacher, artistic director, activist, editor and manager, Gabriella Stazio is one of the main protagonists of the Italian contemporary dance scene.

Born in Naples, Gabriella Stazio started studying classical dance at a very young age and then explored all most interesting evolutions of the choreographic language.
Her training is process that put her in relation with some of the greatest interpreters of modern and contemporary dance.
Lifechanging were her experiences with Merce Cunningham, Douglas Dunn, Meg Harper, Robert Kovich and Susana Hayman-Chaffey of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
She also studied with Molissa Fenley, Charles Moulton, Jim Self and Roberta Escamilla Garrison, among the major exponents of American post-modern dance.
With Steve Paxton, Laurie Booth, Ronald Bunzl and Didier Silhol she studied Contact Improvisation.
With Joseph Fontano she studied the Graham technique.
She also studied with Gillian Hobart, Andre Peck of Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Libby Nye of José Limòn Dance Company, Jeffrey Axelrod and Shelley Sabine Senter of Trisha Brown Dance Company, Richard Haisma of Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab and Murray Louis Company, Patrick King of Louis Falco Dance Company.
She studies with Dominique Mercier, Jo Ann Endicott and Beatrice Libonati of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and with Jorma Outinen of the Carolyn Carlson Company.
With Valerie Preston-Dunlop of Trinity Laban in London she studied the Laban Technique.

Gabriella Stazio’s lifelong training continues with Jenia Kasatkina and Eugenia Demeglio for Countertechnique, Seke Chimutengwende of DV8 PHysical Theatre, Rebecca Scheinberg, Tanja Saban, Yael Schnell, Guy Shomroni and Iyar Elezraper for Gaga Dance – Ohad Naharin technique and repertory, Ayman Harper for William Forsythe’s Improvisation Technologies, Narendra Patil for IndYog-Contemporary & Flying Low Technique, Laia Duran Figols of Marcos Morau’s La Veronal Company, Masha Kolegova of Ultima Vez Company, Joy Alpuerto Ritter of Akram Khan Company, Daisy Ransom Phillips of Eastman Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Cyril Baldy of The Forsythe Company and with Ralitza Malehounova, NDT rehearsal director and assistant to Marco Goecke. In October 2022, Gabriella Stazio takes part in an intensive program, with a final performance, directed by Bérengère Bodin and Quan Bui Ngoc of Les Ballets C de la B, on Alain Platel’s most praised works “C(h)oeurs”. In January 2023, in Berlin, she participates in the Crystal Pite Repertoire & Kidd Pivot Improvisation Tools intensive workshop led by Jiří Pokorný.

She graduated with honors in “Sport Sciences” with publication of the thesis. Supervisor of the thesis is Prof. Adelaide Lavitola, thanks to which she deepens the knowledge of human movement science by Jean Le Boulch, founder of psychokinetics. Gabriella Stazio has also studied music, singing and solfeggio.

Gabriella Stazio teaches technique, theory and methodology of modern, contemporary and modern jazz dance. She is frequently invited in Italy and abroad for stages, master classes, workshops and choreographic laboratories.

Recent experiences include training workshops for the international network Danza Puglia (2023) and the choreographic composition workshop “Deconstructing the obvious” at the Arts Research Institute, Georgia (2023).

In 1979 Gabriella Stazio founded Movimento Danza, one of the first Italian centers to offer a parallel and transversal study of all dance techniques, as well as one of the first in the South of Italy to engage in the divulgation of modern and contemporary dance.
A few years later she founded the Compagnia Movimento Danza, one of the first and most important contemporary dance companies in Italy, which immediately attracted the attention of the public and international critics thanks to her avant-garde language, extremely free and personal, far from common labels and easy definitions.
From the early 80s of the last century on, Gabriella Stazio’s choreographies for Movimento Danza Company have been multi-awarded and represented in 30 countries of 4 continents, performing on the stages of the most significant dance festivals and events.

Her collaborations with prestigious institutions such as the Teatro Grande of Pompeii, the Greek Theatre of Syracuse, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, the Samuel Beckett Theatre in Dublin, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico, RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana, the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia and the Teatro Stabile di Napoli – Teatro Nazionale are countless.

Her collaborations with musicians such as Roberto De Simone, Pino Daniele, Almamegretta, Famoudou Don Moye of the Art Ensemble of Chicago are countless.

Gabriella Stazio has been invited to the most important national and international festivals and has been present with her choreographies in several television shows broadcasted worldwide by RAI. She has received important awards such as the Vignale Danza Award, the Positano Arte della Danza “Leonide Massine” Award, the Aragonese Award, the Sunday Tribune Award, the Award of the International Meetings of Contemporary Dance in Mexico City, the Promozione Danza/Il Coreografo Elettronico Award, the Napoli Cultural Classic Award for dance, the Napoli in Danza Award and the Premio Madss for the dissemination of contemporary dance culture.

Under her leadership, Movimento Danza is committed not only to training but also to promotion and dissemination, organizing courses, workshops, seminars, exhibitions, festivals and conferences-shows.

For these activities, since 2000, Movimento Danza has been recognized as a National Promotion Organization (the current wording is “Organismo di Promozione Nazionale”) by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (the current wording is “Ministry of Culture“).

From 2000 to 2004, Gabriella Stazio is the artistic director of the project Movimento Danza 2000: un passato diverso, un futuro comune, promoted within the framework of the Culture 2000 program of the European Union, with partners such as Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal, the Laban Centre of London, the Ballet Victor Ullate of Madrid, the Compagnia Onnagata Rea of Brussels, Mediascena Europa of Rome.

In addition to the Movimento Danza center and the company of the same name, Gabriella Stazio is manager and artistic director of many other projects.

From 2001 to 2004 she was project manager and artistic director of Pomigliano Danza, in the city of Pomigliano d’Arco, the first example of a Municipal School of Dance in Southern Italy.

Since 2001 she has been a member of the International Dance Council – UNESCO.

Since 2001 she is the artistic director of the World Dance Day, an initiative organized by UNESCO and introduced in Italy by Gabriella Stazio.

From 2002 to today she is the artistic director of Second Hand – Di Seconda Mano, an exhibition of contemporary dance of his own creation.

Since 2004 she is the artistic director of Performing Arts Group – Compagnia Giovani Movimento Danza, a project created to initiate young dancers to the life of theater.

In 2008 she signs the direction of Z.A.C. – Zona Attacco Creativo, a production for the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia.

Since 2012 she is the artistic director of Residanza – La casa della Nuova Coreografia, a hospitality project for young choreographers.

From 2012 to 2019 she has been the artistic director of My Lesson, My Body: nuovi codici della danza, a project dedicated to new dance methodologies.

Since 2015 she is artistic director and choreographer of the project Campanian Dance Road, promoted in collaboration with the Campania Region – FERS Funds – PAC3.

In 2018 she is artistic and scientific director of the project Movimenti Periferici Danza Festival, realized with the support of the City of Naples – Department of Culture, project winner of the call “SIAE/S’illumina – Dance, Urban Peripheries 2017”.

Since 2018 she has been president of Sistema MeD – Associazione Musica e Danza – Agis Campania, which brings together 24 associations active on a regional scale.

Since 2020 she is artistic director of  Dance Rewrite, a journalism and research call promoted by Campadidanza Dance Magazine.

Since 2021 she is artistic director of NU.DA. – Nuova Danza, an original web streaming event format that promotes young Italian choreography, and artistic director of CAM CAM / Dance for Camera, a video dance award for artists under 35.

Since 2022 she is vice president of A.D.E.P. – Associazione Danza Esercizio e Promozione.

In 2022 she is artistic director of NU.DA. Live! | Contemporary Choreographic Experiences, a project that aims to internationalize the careers of young Italian choreographers under 35.

Since 2015 Gabriella Stazio is editor of Campadidanza – Dance Magazine, an online magazine dedicated to the world of dance.

She is the curator, together with Marialuisa Stazio and Raffaella Tramontano, of the book “Si cambia danza – L’impatto del Covid-19 sul sistema danza in Italia” (Meltemi Editore, April 2022), an important reflection on the dance system in Italy developed during 2020/2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 social and health emergency, when the live performance had to dramatically face its longtime difficulties, invent a possible present and imagine another future.

She contributes his expertise to the creation of the book “Sasha Waltz & Guests – 30 anni di creatività nella danza” by Nicola Campanelli, published in December 2023 by Smith Editore (Florence), and produced with the support of Campadidanza Dance Magazine and Movimento Danza.

In 2021 she participates in the international conference “Seventy! Ferments and Paths of Innovation in Italian Dance” (University of Bologna – Alma Mater Studiorum, November 3-4, 2021), curated by Elena Cervellati, Elena Randi and Giulia Taddeo, with the paper “Naples, Movimento Danza. Since 1979, a vision of research and innovation for the contemporary.”
The conference proceedings are published in the special issue of “Dance and Research. Laboratory of Studies, Writings, Visions” (July 2023).

In December 2023, she is the protagonist of the meeting “Dance in Italy between the 1970s and 1980s: the origins of Movimento Danza (Naples)“, again at the University of Bologna – Alma Mater Studiorum.
The initiative is curated by Elena Cervellati and is addressed to students, doctoral and post-doctoral students of the Department of Music and Arts.

In collaboration with Anghiari Dance Hub, in 2023 she organizes a series of free webinars on dance dramaturgy with the participation of Alessandro Pontremoli and Piersandra Di Matteo.

You can contact Gabriella Stazio for choreographic composition and contact – improvisation workshops, masterclasses, jury for auditions.
Write to presidente@movimentodanza.org.