"L'Abbraccio dell'Arte" (The Embrace of Art)

Friday March 22 at 7:30 PM
Julia Richman Theater, 317 East 67th Street (off Second Avenue)
Tickets: $20
Reservations: www.italianidf.com or 646.387.8979

Artistic Director: Antonio Pio Fini
Creative Director/Host: Tabata Caldironi

Announcing the first annual Italian International Dance Festival, which will bring together dancers, companies and choreographers from Italy and America in a spirit of exchange and collaboration, with a Gala Performance March 22, 7:30 PM, at Julia Richman Theater, 317 East 67th Street. The evening will feature companies from Italy as well as American-based groups directed by Italian artists. With support from organizations in Italy and the U.S., the Italian International Dance Festival is an exchange between artists from the new and old worlds - a "abbraccio della'arte" (embrace of art), where the cultures intercept, exchange, and experiment through the art of dance.

Antonio Pio Fini, founder of the Festival, remarked: "My vision of this festival is to create an annual bridge between cultures in a spirit of discovery, exchange and collaboration through dance, commencing in 2013, designed by Italy and the USA to celebrate Italian Culture in America." A native of Calabria, Fini graduated from the Carcano Theater in Milan and attended the Martha Graham School in NYC, appearing with numerous local dance companies including the Graham Ensemble and Michael Mao Dance. Fini, who travels worldwide as dancer, teacher, and choreographer, has spent February 2013 in Pristina, where he has been invited to choreograph a work, to be premiered March 6th, for the ensemble of the National Ballet of Kosovo.

Participating artists for the March 22nd Gala: (list is still in formation)
** Atzewi Dance Company from Modena
** Alessandra Corona, a native of Sardinia living in NYC, formerly a principal with Ballet Hispanico
** Aconcoli Dance di Elena Albano from Milan
** Mare Nostrum Elements, NY-based, co-directed by Nicola Iervasi of Calabria, former dancer with the Martha Graham Ensemble
** Michael Mao Dance, NY-based, in an excerpt from his "Requiem" by Giuseppe Verdi, whose 200th birth anniversary this year is being celebrated around the world
**Caliince Dance in a work by choreographer Antonella Perazzo of Rome
**Staten island Ballet in a work that celebrates Italy
**Talent Unlimited High School in a Tarantella by Nicola Iervasi
** appearance by Laura Caparrotti of Rome, director of the NY-based Kairos Italy
Theater.

The Gala will also include the presentation of the "IIDF Teacher Award," to Elena Albano of Milan, given by director of the Martha Graham Center, Virginie Mecene. The Award honors Doctor Albano for her illustrious career teaching modern dance at the Centro Studi Coreografici Carcano Theater in Milan. New York's illustrious jazz teacher, Luigi, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award "A Heart for Art". A third award, offered by the jeweler Franco Pianegonda of Vicenza Italy, will be presented to an international dance star to be named.

The first day of the Festival, March 21st, will not be open to the public, though dance writers are invited to attend and observe. The day will begin with Master Classes taught by Italian choreographers, followed by a competition for choreographers for the title of "AJD Emerging Choreographer 2013." Winner of the competition will be invited to present his work in Italy at the Alto Jonio Dance Festival in the City of Villapiana, Calabria, where he or she will also receive the "AJD Emerging Choreographer 2013" presented by Roberto Rizzuto, mayor of Villapiana.

The Italian International Dance Festival is the artistic vision of dancer/producer Antonio Pio Fini, with generous assistance from the Italian Ministry of Culture, the University of Calabria, the City Hall of Villapiana, Kit-Kairos Italy Theater, Ms. Tabata Caldironi, Mr. Gianluca Blandi, Talent Unlimited, Mare Nostrum Elements, and Michael Mao Dance.

www.italianidf.com