BIO Daniel Proietto
Daniel Proietto was born in Argentina, where he studied classical ballet at the school of the Colón Theatre in Buenos Aires.
He began his professional career at the age of 16 with the Ballet of Santiago, Chile and, later, as a member of the Ballet of the Argentine Theatre and the Contemporary Ballet of the San Martín Theatre.
In 2003 he joined Carte Blanche, the Norwegian national company of contemporary dance, where he became one of its most outstanding dancers. And in 2013 the Norwegian National Ballet created the position of "Guest Artist" for Proietto, one of the first occasions in which a contemporary dancer is granted such status with a ballet company.
Proietto worked internationally as an independent artist and choreographer since 2005, touring the world at important venues such as the New York City Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the National Theater of Chaillot in Paris, Bunkamura and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, the National Theater and the Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona, Esplanade in Singapore, Forum in Monaco, the Coliseum and Sadler's Wells in London, to name a few.
As a choreographer he received the 1st Prize in the "21st International Choreographers Competition" in Hannover, Germany, for his choreographic debut and since he has created works for the Vienna State Ballet, the Norwegian National Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba, Riksteater, star dancer Osiel Gouneo and Ballet Flanders, where he created RASA - a 3 act dance, theatre and musical piece for the company's 50th anniversary season.
RASA was chosen as one of the Best Productions of the year by Dance Europe and nominated to the Fedora Van Cleef & Arpels Prize for Ballet.
His work Cygne received the Mention of Honor in the Book of the Teatro Garcia Lorca in La Habana and the piece, alongside Proietto's interpretation of Petrushka by Alan Lucien Øyen, were featured in the 3D film "Cathedrals of Culture" produced by Wim Wenders about Oslo's Opera House. A special section of the film featuring Cygne by Proietto is permanently showcased at NOWNESS.
Proietto is a founding member of Norwegian dance and theatre company Winter Guests, its director Alan Lucien Øyen creates many works for him, such as the solo Screened Out - Øyen's first ever work for another performer, Avenida Corrientes - a duet with Proietto and Andrew Wale that would become Øyens first film: Avenida Corrientes The Movie; and most famously, Simulacrum - a duet with Proietto and Japanese Flamenco legend Shoji Kojima.
He also collaborated closely with Øyen as his co-choreographer in productions at the Gothenburg Opera, Paris Opera Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet and more recently at the celebrated Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.
Proietto has collaborated in a famous way with Russel Maliphant in several creations, especially with his solo AfterLight (2009), a piece that received great international acclaim for both Proietto and Maliphant.
With the solo, Proietto has won a series of awards including the UK Critics Award for "Best Male Contemporary Dancer"; "Best Dancer of the Year" by Dance Europe, occupying the first place among 170 international stars.
AfterLight was also nominated to the "Olivier Award", named by many newspapers as the solo of the year and, alongside a retrospective of Maliphantʼs works, won the South Bank Sky Arts Award in the category of dance.
As an interpreter he also created and performed the works of some of the greatest choreographers and directors of our time, including Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Alexander Ekman, Omar Saravia, Robyn Orlin and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui - staging the work of the latter at Carlos Acosta's company Acosta Danza and also dancing the US premiere of Cherkaoui's duet Faun, a performance that won Proietto the ApuliArte Award in Italy.
He has participated in major international galas and festivals like Festival Internacional de Ballet de La Habana and the World Ballet Festival in Japan, where he danced "And... Carolyn" by Øyen alongside director and Paris Opera Ballet star Aurelie Dupont. This signature duet in Proietto’s repertoire has won Øyen two 1st prizes at choreography competitions in Copenhagen, Denmark and Burgos, Spain.
Since 2011 Proietto has studied Nihon Buyo - the Japanese traditional dances from the Kabuki theater - with the prestigious Soke Fujima-ryu. He had the honor to perform, in Houston, Paris, Oslo, Tbilisi and Shizuoka, a work created especially for him by Kanjuro Fujima VIII, one of the most important kabuki choreographers and directors today.
For his achievements in dance Proietto received the Rolf Gammlen Award, given to important figures of the Norwegian performing arts scene.
Proietto has been filmed and photographed for several projects by legendary director and fashion photographer Nick Knight, showcased at SHOWStudio and projected at Nicola Formichetti 's first collection show for Diesel in Venice.
Most recently, Proietto has written and directed REALNESS, his first film produced by Nagelhus Schia Productions and M12 Kultur.
He has been an active teacher and educator internationally since 2003.
Proietto is now delving into his first entrepreneurial project as founder and CEO of the digital platform KNOW - an online venue and academic resource center for the arts that will permanently host the works and insight to the creative processes of some of the greatest artists of our time.