.jpg)
Dance Now! Ensemble Profile
On a recent April evening, Diego Salterini battles a cold. But the sniffles are not going to keep him away from the dance studio. The tall, soft-spoken Italian has just finished teaching a class and must now revert from choreographer to pupil. He is about to rehearse a new piece created by choreographer/dancer Hannah Baumgarten, who cofounded the Dance Now! Ensemble with Salterini 10 years ago.
Tentatively titled “Origin Unknown,” the work will feature a trio of male dancers rounded out by Todd Grace and Pioneer Winter during performances on May 9 and 10, part of the six-week Miami Dance Festival.
The troupe practices at the North Miami dance studios of PAN (Performing Arts Network). The atmosphere is relaxed. Baumgarten, the more vocal of DNE’s two artistic directors, is dressed in a black sweatshirt and pants, her short blonde hair pulled back with a white band. The California native, trained at Juilliard, is warm and direct. She shows the dancers the moves popping up in her head and they quickly materialize on the dancers"e; limbs.
But after one too many quasi-gymnastic contortions, the male trio starts joking. Salterini mockingly cautions the 40-year-old Baumgarten the demands on his body compared to his fellow dancers: the Italian is 43; Grace, a decade younger; and Winter, at 21, is the baby. With everyone laughing, including Baumgarten, it’s clear that egos have been checked at the door.
“Otherwise, we would not have been able to do what we do,” says Baumgarten of her working relationship with Salterini. “Even when we have artistic debates, it’s not a personal thing.”
What the choreographers have been able to do since 1998 is share a journey, as they like to say, and try to contribute to the South Florida dance scene in unexpected ways.
“The dance community in South Florida is growing, and we are trying to bond with every other company here,” explains Salterini.
In the 1990s, the Rome native enjoyed a lucrative career as a dancer on Italian variety TV shows. In 1997, Salterini followed his heart to Miami, after meeting a Miamian who was vacationing in Milan. This friend brought Salterini along to the classes he was taking at PAN studios, and there the Italian met Baumgarten. She needed a substitute teacher for one of her classes, and Salterini stepped in.
“I was overwhelmed by coming here,” remembers Salterini, who had only visited the States before as a tourist. “But apparently, from what Hannah said, it was like a magic moment: ‘Oh my God, I found my partner!’ ”
Salterini, who began dancing at the rather late age of 19, delved right into modern dance and jazz. By age 31, he decided to come to America, knowing that he did not have many years left as a lead dancer. The love affair that brought him here ended, but Salterini stayed on. PAN offered him his first work visa, he gratefully acknowledges, and while teaching classes at the studio, he developed his close friendship with Baumgarten.
“Diego and Hannah are both very talented and dedicated artists. We provided them with their first opportunity to hold rehearsals in our company, and they were received very well,” says Ilisa Rosal, PAN"e;s founder and executive director. “Their work is very dynamic, contemporary, and relevant to audiences of all ages, especially younger people.”
In 1998, along with dancers and friends Georgina López and Colleen Farnum, the Dance Now! Ensemble began to take shape. López, unfortunately, passed away a few years later, and Farnum moved on to other projects (though she has returned to work with DNE as guest choreographer). With time, the company found its footing and developed a philosophy.
“[It’s] a fusion of different styles,” explains Salterini. “Modern dance, jazz and ballet, rooted in western contemporary dance, and focusing on performance and education.”
Those elements were what attracted Madelynn Hageman to move from Ohio in 2007 and join DNE. Originally from Cleveland, she studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where Baumgarten and Salterini served as guest choreographers.
“I really didn’t know much about the dance scene in Miami. But upon meeting Hannah and Diego, I liked the way they treated their dancers,” shares the 23-year-old. “I liked their whole attitude towards dance: they’re very open. They’re creative. There are no egos attached to them.”
After jeté-ing the last few years from one venue to another, this year Baumgarten, Salterini and the corps are back at PAN as company in residence. Aware that contemporary dance will probably never achieve the critical mass audience of musical theater or ballet, Baumgarten highlights something that she and Salterini set upon doing when DNE took its first steps, and have proudly accomplished.
“We always try to present a mixed bag of work in our shows, and we don’t shy away from our own personal investigations,” says Baumgarten. “We have often invited guest choreographers who have pushed the envelope in different ways. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to convince people to go see the edgy, the avant garde, and the experimental if they’re not into it. But, if you can get them into the theater, and you can expose them to a variety of styles, oftentimes they find that they enjoy something that they wouldn’t have gone to see otherwise.”
For Dance Now! Ensemble schedule during the Miami Dance Festival, see side bar in separate article.
Tentatively titled “Origin Unknown,” the work will feature a trio of male dancers rounded out by Todd Grace and Pioneer Winter during performances on May 9 and 10, part of the six-week Miami Dance Festival.
The troupe practices at the North Miami dance studios of PAN (Performing Arts Network). The atmosphere is relaxed. Baumgarten, the more vocal of DNE’s two artistic directors, is dressed in a black sweatshirt and pants, her short blonde hair pulled back with a white band. The California native, trained at Juilliard, is warm and direct. She shows the dancers the moves popping up in her head and they quickly materialize on the dancers"e; limbs.
But after one too many quasi-gymnastic contortions, the male trio starts joking. Salterini mockingly cautions the 40-year-old Baumgarten the demands on his body compared to his fellow dancers: the Italian is 43; Grace, a decade younger; and Winter, at 21, is the baby. With everyone laughing, including Baumgarten, it’s clear that egos have been checked at the door.
“Otherwise, we would not have been able to do what we do,” says Baumgarten of her working relationship with Salterini. “Even when we have artistic debates, it’s not a personal thing.”
What the choreographers have been able to do since 1998 is share a journey, as they like to say, and try to contribute to the South Florida dance scene in unexpected ways.
“The dance community in South Florida is growing, and we are trying to bond with every other company here,” explains Salterini.
In the 1990s, the Rome native enjoyed a lucrative career as a dancer on Italian variety TV shows. In 1997, Salterini followed his heart to Miami, after meeting a Miamian who was vacationing in Milan. This friend brought Salterini along to the classes he was taking at PAN studios, and there the Italian met Baumgarten. She needed a substitute teacher for one of her classes, and Salterini stepped in.
“I was overwhelmed by coming here,” remembers Salterini, who had only visited the States before as a tourist. “But apparently, from what Hannah said, it was like a magic moment: ‘Oh my God, I found my partner!’ ”
Salterini, who began dancing at the rather late age of 19, delved right into modern dance and jazz. By age 31, he decided to come to America, knowing that he did not have many years left as a lead dancer. The love affair that brought him here ended, but Salterini stayed on. PAN offered him his first work visa, he gratefully acknowledges, and while teaching classes at the studio, he developed his close friendship with Baumgarten.
“Diego and Hannah are both very talented and dedicated artists. We provided them with their first opportunity to hold rehearsals in our company, and they were received very well,” says Ilisa Rosal, PAN"e;s founder and executive director. “Their work is very dynamic, contemporary, and relevant to audiences of all ages, especially younger people.”
In 1998, along with dancers and friends Georgina López and Colleen Farnum, the Dance Now! Ensemble began to take shape. López, unfortunately, passed away a few years later, and Farnum moved on to other projects (though she has returned to work with DNE as guest choreographer). With time, the company found its footing and developed a philosophy.
“[It’s] a fusion of different styles,” explains Salterini. “Modern dance, jazz and ballet, rooted in western contemporary dance, and focusing on performance and education.”
Those elements were what attracted Madelynn Hageman to move from Ohio in 2007 and join DNE. Originally from Cleveland, she studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where Baumgarten and Salterini served as guest choreographers.
“I really didn’t know much about the dance scene in Miami. But upon meeting Hannah and Diego, I liked the way they treated their dancers,” shares the 23-year-old. “I liked their whole attitude towards dance: they’re very open. They’re creative. There are no egos attached to them.”
After jeté-ing the last few years from one venue to another, this year Baumgarten, Salterini and the corps are back at PAN as company in residence. Aware that contemporary dance will probably never achieve the critical mass audience of musical theater or ballet, Baumgarten highlights something that she and Salterini set upon doing when DNE took its first steps, and have proudly accomplished.
“We always try to present a mixed bag of work in our shows, and we don’t shy away from our own personal investigations,” says Baumgarten. “We have often invited guest choreographers who have pushed the envelope in different ways. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to convince people to go see the edgy, the avant garde, and the experimental if they’re not into it. But, if you can get them into the theater, and you can expose them to a variety of styles, oftentimes they find that they enjoy something that they wouldn’t have gone to see otherwise.”
For Dance Now! Ensemble schedule during the Miami Dance Festival, see side bar in separate article.