Alito ALESSI (US)

Alito Alessi is the founder and artistic director of the Joint Forces Dance Company (JFDC). He’s been teaching and performing DanceAbility and contact improvisation for over 20 years. JFDC and his DanceAbility initiative have long been considered one of the world’s most important pioneering projects in the field of “mixed-abilities dance.” Working together with physically handicapped as well as non-handicapped instructors and performers, Alito Alessi has garnered worldwide esteem for his artistic vision and unique ways of expanding horizons with respect to diversity in dance. Alito Alessi is a dancer, choreographer and trained masseur. He has been the recipient of numerous choreography grants from the US’s National Endowment of the Arts. As one of the pioneers in integrating contact improvisation into choreographic work, he has collaborated with such prominent figures as Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Andrew Harwood and Karen Nelson. Alessi has been honored with an impressive list of international subsidy grants and prizes.

Alessi began his training as a DanceAbility instructor in 1997. He has given one-month DanceAbility instructor training workshops in Eugene (Oregon), Buenos Aires, Milan, Amsterdam, Trier and Vienna. They’ve been attended by more than 300 men and women from 18 countries—dancers, people with handicaps and those who are interested in working with them. He cooperates closely on an ongoing basis with several international integrative dance companies that he has supported—in some instances, ever since their establishment—in the capacity of advisor, co-instructor and choreographer. Alessi’s tours with JFDC through North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia have received tremendous international attention. He is currently working on a book about DanceAbility methods.

www.danceability.com