EMD | Company

ELISA MONTE DANCE, founded in 1981, bridges cultural barriers through the universal language of dance. From its earliest recognition on the world stage in 1982 as “best company” at the International Dance Festival of Paris, the company has succeeded for over two decades. The work of Elisa Monte, a former principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company and Pilobolus, is widely recognized for its highly athletic and sensual style, as well as its technical and physical acuity, exploring a multitude of topics and themes.

The company has performed in over 40 nations including Singapore, Italy, Russia, France, Germany, and throughout the United States. Elisa Monte Dance has also appeared in several major dance festivals, from Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave and Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors to Steps ’98 Switzerland and Weimar 1999 Cultural Capital activities. Elisa Monte Dance has been featured on television networks through Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean, and the company was highlighted on PBS Metro Arts Channel 13 in New York as part of the station’s Dance Month, celebrating accomplished New York City-based choreographers. Elisa Monte Dance celebrates diversity through the work, its artists, and staff. The company’s artists hail from all corners of the globe, including the US, the Bahamas, Austria and Guadalupe.

Elisa Monte Dance performed in Italy at the Spoleto Dance Festival in July 2006, and in October toured seven cities in Brazil performing in each city's primary theater venue. The company followed their March 2006 University of Buffalo residency with a spring tour to Florida that included lecture-demonstrations and performances at the New World School for the Arts in Miami, the Art and Culture Center in Hollywood, and the Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth. During the summer session the company performed at the Pergine Spettacola Aperto festival in Italy, which was followed by a three-week residency at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. The residency allowed Elisa Monte to continue work on a new piece that she had begun in March during the company’s March residency. The culmination of the company’s celebration of its 25^th anniversary was the presentation of a New York season at the Joyce Theater in September 2006, which opened to rave reviews. The season presented a retrospective of the company's vast canon of work and featured the premiere of Elisa Monte’s newest work, Hardwood. Soon after the Joyce the company embarked on a whirlwind six-city tour throughout Italy, and Germany. Looking into the future the company is preparing for performances and residencies in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho and Jackson Hole, WY. Once back in New York the company will begin a 2007 Lake Placid residency for three weeks in preparation for their fall European tour which leads directly into the company’s 2007 Joyce season in October. The 2007 Joyce season will feature Elisa’s signature piece Treading and a revival of Pigs and Fishes along with the 2006 premiere Hardwood and a new piece titled Slope of Enlightenment, commissioned by the Joyce Theater.

ELISA MONTE

THE COMPANY