Marmo (marble)

Nancy Allison received a BFA (Bachelor’s of Fine Arts) from Ohio University from which she also received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002. In addition she studied, as a scholarship student, at the famed University of the Arts at Jacob’s Pillow founded by American modern dance pioneer, Ted Shawn. She earned CMA certification (Certified Movement Analyst) from LIMS/NY (Laban-Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies) in 1991 and is a sought after teacher of LMA (Laban Movement Analysis) in the US, Canada and Europe. From 1976 – 85 Nancy was a member of Jean Erdman’s and Joseph Campbell’s Theater of the Open Eye where she won acclaim for her interpretations of Erdman’s modern dance repertory of the 1940s and 50s. She was the executive producer and featured dancer in the three-part video archive Dance & Myth: The World of Jean Erdman now housed in the U.S. Library of Congress, the Jerome Robbins Dance Research Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Centre National de la Danse in Pantin, France, among others. At The Open Eye, she was also one of a trio of dancers comprising the company of,” Op Odyssey”, awarded the prize for Best Company at the 15th International Festival d’Autômne at the Théâtre de Champs Elysées in Paris and with which she toured the US and Europe for several years. Her choreography has been presented internationally by the Athens Festival in Greece, House of Composers in Moscow (Russia) and Encontro Laban in Rio de Janiero (Brazil), in New York City by Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, 92nd St. Y, P.S. 122 and Dance Now and throughout the US by the Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD), Blossom Music Festival (Cleveland, OH) and Artquake (Portland, OR) among others. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Harkness Foundation for the Dance, the Gladys Kreibel Delmas Foundation, as well as the Laurance Rockefeller gift in support of her work. Her first film, “Hamadryad” premiered at the 2015 Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association’s Dance on Camera Festival and has since screened as an Official Selection at the Mykonos Biennale (Greece), Philadelphia Screendance Festival (USA), Oklahoma Dance Film Festival (USA), International Festival du Film sur L’Art (Montréal,Canada), Colortape International Film Festival (Brisbane, Australia) São Carlos Videodanse Festival (São Carlos, Brazil) and Cinemística (Granada, Spain) among others.

LAURA BOATO born in Venice, graduated cum laude in Philosophy from Università di Ca’ Foscari, Venice in 2000. She began her dance training in Italy with Manola Bettio and continued studying and performing at Quatrième sous-sol in Paris, France, as a guest at the famed Folkwang Hochschule and Tanztheater Pina Bausch in Essen,Germany and in New York at Movement Research, P.S 122 and with Susan Klein and the Shua Group. In Italy she has performed some of the most well-known contemporary dance companies including Tocna Danza, Ersilia Danza, Lubert Das and C.ia Chiara Frigo. Laura has choreographed works for the Toni Benetton Museum and the Opera Estate Festival in Treviso, University Ca’ Foscari in Venice, Istituto Univestario Architettura di Venezia, the Municipality of Venice, Emergency (a private organization providing psychological assistance to refugees escaping war-torn countries) and Comitato Cittadino per la Giornata della Memoria (Citizen’s Committee for the Day of Remembrance). In 2010 with “Madre Acida” (which means both “acid mother” and “sourdough”) she was a finalist for the Young Dance Author Prize from Opera estate Festival Veneto. In 2011 she created “Le isole non crescono” (Islands don’t become larger), a site-specific work commissioned by La Biennale Danza as part of the international project “Choreographic Collision/Moving the City”, under the direction of Ishmael Ivo. In 2012 she was invited to participate in the Biennale’s New Dance and Research section where she created “Incarnazione” which won First Prize at Orient Occident Festival, an international choreographic competition. The festival supported the development of her acclaimed triptych ON THE MARKET / Incarnation_Beauty_Art, which was subsequently presented at Lavanderia a Vapore in Turin and Teatri di Vetro in Rome. In 2014, at the invitation of Ca’ Foscari professor, Stefano Tomassini she began a three-year choreographic investigation of the classical ballet, “Giselle”, supported by Choreographic Collision/ DanzaVenezia. In 2016 her “Giselle” was presented at Fondamenta Nova and Teatro Goldoni in Venice, Teatro Comunale in Vicenza, LAC Arte e Cultura in Lugano, Switzerland and Teatro Elfo Puccini in Milan.