GRACIELA DANIELE

From Film Choreographers and Dance Directors by Larry Billman...

"I like dance that tells a story," said director-choreographer Graciela Daniele, whose bold dance performance pieces expanded musical theatre during the 1990s. "I allow my dancers to be like actors - to worry intellectually, emotionally about the parts they are playing... in the type of work that I do, the creative process is exactly like that of a play. The steps come last. Dance is another language of expression."

Her life in the theater began at the age of 7 when, because of a foot problem, a doctor prescribed ballet and she was accepted by the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, where she performed with the company for 8 years. After settling in New York in the early 1960s, she studied with Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham and Matt Mattox and performed on Broadway in What Makes Sammy Run?, Here's Where I Belong, Promises, Promises and Chicago. She began her choreographic career assisting Michael Bennett on Coco and Follies, which led her to multiple Broadway stage assignments and numerous Tony and Drama Desk nominations (for The Pirates of Penzance, The Rink, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Once on This Island, and The Goodbye Girl, among others). Stage work led to films such as Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, and Everyone Says I Love You.

Dance Magazine in May of 1994 said of her work, "Daniele is not afraid to make audiences shiver." She continues to explore new dance forms and innovative staging with her explosive works.