WALLY CARDONA (Artistic Director/Choreographer/Performer) has been recognized nationally and internationally for creating vast yet intimate works that use scale, setting and materals as integral partners in the creation of movement. Hailed as “one of the most adventurous choreographers of his generation, a master of passionate abstract dances” by Brooklyn Magazine, he is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for the creation of Everywhere. He resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Brought up in California and New Mexico, Cardona was a competitive gymnast and clarinetist before moving to New York City in 1986 to study dance at The Juilliard School (B.F.A.). The following summer, invited by Benjamin Harkarvy, he attended the Ballet Project at Jacob’s Pillow, met Ralph Lemon and subsequently danced with his company until 1995.

Cardona’s first work premiered in 1992 at the Festival International de Danse a Cannes; his next work, Made In Voyage (1995), was performed in seven countries; and his first large-scale project took place in 1996 when French choreographer Hervé Robbe/Le Marietta Secret invited him to create a double purpose/a double emploi for a cast of four French and four American dancers. The following year, Wally Cardona Quartet was founded and WCV, Inc., an artistic umbrella organization for Cardona’s projects, was formed.

Cardona’s work has been commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s TBA Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Symphony Space, Helena Presents/The Myrna Loy Center, Sushi Performance, Group Motion/Peregrine Art’s Hidden City, Ricochet Dance Company, Company OFF/Trafó, Kansas University, and Paradigm. International engagements have included festivals in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.

He is currently teaching at The Juilliard School and Performance/Phenomenon: Philosophy in Physical Practice at The New School in New York City.

TEACHING
A world-renowned teacher, Cardona’s interests lie in helping individuals cultivate their own creative process. His workshops explore, through physical practice, what it is to move from “natural” states to "performance" states. The primary aim is to simultaneously consider performance from alternate viewpoints, including performer, creator, viewer, thinker, and responsible agent. Conceptual frameworks involving time, space, place and the body are introduced and considered via practical application in the studio. Workshops are geared toward dancers, choreographers, visual artists, actors or performers of any kind, emphasize learning by doing and are non-systematic.

He has taught for festivals, companies, colleges and universities (selected list): The Juilliard School; The New School; Swedish Dance Alliance; TSEH - Moscow; University of Kansas; TanzQuartier Wien; Movement Research; Danscentrum; Dansstationen; Dansens Hus; Sushi Performance; Dance Space Center; Dancer’s Group; The Dance Center at Columbia College, Chicago; National Center of Contemporary Dance, Mexico; Festival de Danza Contemporanea de San Luis Potosi; Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes; Dance Place, Washington; SUNY/Potsdam; Body Works Festival, Melbourne; Connecticut College; SUNY Brockport; Barnard College; Perry-Mansfield; Mito Art Tower, Japan; T-Junction, Vienna; Colorado Dance Festival; 1st International Dance Festival, Buenos Aires; ADF - Raleigh/Durham; ADF -  Santiago, Chile; NYU – Tisch School of the Arts; Modern Dance Promotion of Korea; Cie Philippe Saire; Geneva Ballet; Graz Opera Ballet; Lyon Opera Ballet.