IDaCo Team

Vanessa Tamburi

Vanessa Tamburi has worked as a solo dancer for key European theatres, including the Ballet of Montercarlo, the Hamburg Ballet and the Vienna Opera Ballet. Building on her professional experience as a classical dancer, Vanessa, over the years, developed experimental contemporary choreographic work, melding dance with contemporary theatre, visual and multimedia art. Her choreographies have been performed in Austria,Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Rwanda, Tanzania, USA and in collaboration with numerous theatres they were staged at international festivals. In 2007 she established the Company "FLUSSO Dance", of which she is currently Artistic Director and Choreographer. She was the Artistic Advisor of the Visa 2 Dance Festival (from 2008 to 2012) and now of the Time2dance Festival 2013 in Tanzania. In May/June 2010 she took part of the CHOREOGRAPHIC COLLISION project at “Biennale Danza” in Venice. 

She is currently living and working in New York City. Her work and new creations have been presented in various festivals ( Cool NY 2012&2013 dance festival, NYC10 Dixon Place, Between the seas Festival 2012 - 2013, Green line platform 92nd Y and Off center dance theatre, The Current Sessions Vol IV issue I, Reverbdance Festival 2014. THE BRIDGE premiered at the Between the seas festival 2013 with the support of the Italian Culture Institute NY as well as the new creation TRAPPING @ the Moving sound festival (September 2013) promoted by The Austrian Cultural forum in collaboration with the Brooklyn based visual artist Andrea Bianconi.

In 2014 Vanessa created NOTHING ELSE MATTERS for the OFF dance theatre, BACK for 2 and IN DEPTH for her company, PIZZICATO FLAVOR for the OFF dance theatre, ABSTRACT THOUGHTS for the KODAFE NYC 2014, RED KNOT for the TICINO IN DANZA festival in Switzerland, KINYAGO for the TIME2DANCE Festival in Tanzania and MECHANCAL for the Dance Gallery Festival @ Alvin Ailey Citigroup theatre, NY. THE THOUSAND and ONE NIGHT was presented in preview on Feb 2015 @Alwan for the Arts and ME_CHANICAL@ Wild project will be part of THE CURRENT  SESSIONS 2015.

Alessia Della Casa

Alessia Della Casa was born in the Italian region of Switzerland. She studied at the School of Choreography in Riga, Latvia. After completing her 3-year degree, she moved to Rome to continue her studies in modern dance with Fabrizio Laurentaci and Dino Verga.

Her first dance experience in the USA was in San Diego with the Mojalet Dance Collective, directed by Faith Jensen-Ismay. After teaching ballet and modern in the preprofessional program back in her Swiss hometown (Scuola di Danza Maria Selvini), Alessia moved to New York. She completed a 2 year certificate in Cunningham technique, and was selected to participate in the Merce Cunningham Fellowship Workshops.
In New York Alessia started the projects Enlightened Dance and ADANZAVECVOS, danced for Vanessa Tamburi’s FLUSSO dance project, Heidi Kaufman’s Heididance, Sublime Dance Company, and has performed works from NY based choreographers Anita Cheng, and Sally Bowden, among others. Her choreographies were presented at WHITE WAVE CoolNY, WaxWorks at Triskelion Arts Center, GREEN BLOOMS at Green Space, and Ticino in Danza ( Switzerland). Alessia is also a GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® certified instructor.  She is the founder and artistic director of the dance festival and campus Ticino in Danza, in Ticino, Switzerland.

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Enzo Celli

In 1998 he founds his first company named Botega, whose activities and productions aroused the interest of Vittoria Ottolenghi. Since 2008 he has collaborated with Bashkortostan State Academy in Russia and UFMG University in Brazil.

In January 2012 he became Guest Teacher for contemporary at Peridance Capezio Center.

In May 2012, while on tour with the Company in Brazil, he carried out a social project at Centro ADAV in Ibiritè.

In July he moved to U.S.A. where he taught several MEME technique classes at Peridance Capezio Center and Dance New Amsterdam (in collaboration with Modern Guest Artist series) in New York. In October 2012 he became Guest Teacher in contemporary dance at Sam Houstone State University.

Igal Perry has asked to Enzo Celli, Ohad Naharin, Dwight Rhoden and Sidra Bell, to create new work for Peridance Contemporary Dance Company. In the March 2013 Enzo's perfomance “I'm HERE” debuted at Salvatore Capezio Theatre in New York. Enzo also realized “The Rite of Spring” for Peridance Certificate Program. In September 2013 Enzo has received a residence at Sam Houston State University, he taught a several MeMe Classes, He created "Buona Strada", choreography commissioned by SHSU. In February 2014 he taught MoDem ADvanced / specializing training course by Compagnia Zappalà Danza. He also realized "[T]here" written by Concetta Cucchiarelli. 

Enzo Celli’s international engagements include Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, Sam Houstone State University (Huntsville - Texas), Sarah Lawrence College (NYC), Bashkortostan State Academy (Russia), UFMG University (Belo Horizonte, Brazil). Russian Drama Theatre (Ufa, Russia),Na Strastnom Theatre (Moscow),Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier - Les Ursulines (France).

His works have been set on prestigious theatres including :Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theatre (New York), Salvatore Capezio Theatre (New York), La Cigale (Paris), Erfurt Opera House (Germany). 

Elisabetta Minutoli

Elisabetta Minutoli dances for Enzo Celli's Italian company Botega from 2008 and from 2014 became associate artistic director of the company.

Elisabetta did her dance training in Italy in Rome and in Balletto di Toscana in Florence and later studied in New York at Steps on Broadway ,at Dance New Amsterdam, and at Peridance.

In 2008 she worked with Molissa Fenley at the American Academy in Rome where Fenley's Cosmati Variations was set on her; she subsequentely performed the New York premiere of the work in 2009. In Italy she worked with Luc Bouy in his “Carmina Burana in jazz”(2010),she has performed in the musical Lady Oscar at Teatro Sistina Roma (2009);with Elisa Monte Dance Company at the Pergine Spettacolo Aperto Festival (2006);with Gloria Pomardi in the musical Datemi tre Caravelle, performing at the Teatro Greco Taormina, Teatro Sistina and throughout Italy,(2005);and with the Mvula Sungani Italian Dance Theatre touring throughout Italy performing Bernarda Alba and Sud Africa (2003).She has also worked with Marika Vannuzzi, Anabella Lenzu, Oxana Malitskaia, Mariapia Di Mauro and Franco Miseria.

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Diana Del Monte

Diana Del Monte is currently a freelance journalist and PhD Candidate in Cultural Studies at Catholic University in Milan with a Visiting Scholar position in the Sociology Department at Columbia University. In New York she cooperated with the Italian Cultural Institute as an external curator for theatrical projects: Narrating Scene, Readings from Italian Storytelling Theatre (2013) and Italy towards Europe, Theatre Culture, European Identity (2014). Previously, she worked as a theatre and dance critic for Cronache di Liberal and Moby Dick from 2007 to 2012.

Diana earned her Master’s degree in Performing Arts at Bologna University in 2008 with a dissertation in Dance Anthropology. During her studies she experienced fieldworks in theatre and dance anthropology and in 2010, she was among the founders of the DAMS Department's Journal "Teatro e Antropologia. Rivista di Studi" directed by Professor Giovanni Azzaroni, and a co-author of La Settimana Santa a Mottola (edited by Giovanni Azzaroni), Club Bologna 2010. Since 2009 she is also part of the Study Group "Danza e Ricerca. Laboratorio di idee, scritture, visioni", directed by Professor Eugenia Casini Ropa, and AIRDanza - Associazione Italiana Ricercatori in Danza. She is currently a member of MLA - Modern Language Association and CID (International Dance Council - UNESCO).

Diana studied dance since she was five. Among others, she studied with Lia Calizza, Elsa Piperno, Simona Bucci, Christine Dakin, Ana Sanchez-Golberg, Milton Myers, Christine Kono, Teri Weikel, Zvi Gotheiner, Risa Steiberg, Carla Vannucchi and Kitty Lunn.  After a car accident that forced her to stop dancing in 2000, she started studying Pilates and body conditioning techniques. In 2004 she became a Pilates and Floor Barre teacher, teaching at physical therapy centers and dance schools until 2010. She took part in Venice's Biennale Danza projects UnderSkin (2006) and Body & Eros (2007); she was assistant choreographer in Perfettamente Imperfetta by Carla Vannucchi (2009) and Frida by Carla Vannucchi and Kitty Lunn (2010). 

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MIchelle Applebaum

Michelle Applebaum was born in Rome, Italy and started Ballet, Modern and Contemporary dance training at the age of 9 at Balletto di Roma. She concluded her training with a Ballet Degree at the age of 19. She then won a one year Contemporary Dance Scholarship at the age of 20 with the Spellbound Dance Company. After that she taught Ballet to children ages from 5 to 15 and adults, she also taught Contemporary and Modern Dance to adults and children at the Danzarmonia School. She performed in various University Projects and received a Bachelor's Degree in 2011 at Sapienza University in Rome and then a Master's Degree in 2014 at Roma Tre, both in Performing Arts. She then decided to move to New York City and attended two Internships regarding Fundraising, Marketing and Administrative Organization for Kate Weare Dance Company and Awaken Dance Theater, two New York City based dance companies. She dances with the Cedan Dance Company and is working as Social Media Manager for Dance To The People.

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Harsha De Silva

Born in Sri Lanka, Harsha moved to the United Kingdom with his family at age five, and grew up in London. After a brief stint in photo-journalism (his photo of the student protest against the Tiananmen Square Massacre in London was featured on the front cover of The Guardian in June, 1989), he entered the world of commercial and advertising photography. In 1991 he began assisting John Mason in London, and after working for some time in NYC, he returned to London to launch his own career as an independent commercial photographer.
Harsha's interest in travel and social documentary has taken him to Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam, where he has taken portraits which express strength, pride, and dignity. He has worked with international agencies such as UNICEF, and for NGOs including CARE to document their work. He was in Sri Lanka on assignment during the Asian tsunami, and experienced firsthand the devastation and destruction on the southern coast. The photographs he took of the individuals and affected communities in the immediate aftermath were featured in major newspaper publications in Japan, including the Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Tokyo Shimbun. His photographs have also been shown in the Foreign Correspondents Club, and at a gallery in Ginza as part of the one- year anniversary event.
Harsha's film career began in 2008, when he produced and directed the on the Nissan funded CARE project to support the psycho-social wellbeing of children affected by the tsunami in Sri Lanka (vimeo: http://vimeo.com/49683192 ). Since 2011, he has produced and directed several short documentaries and marketing pieces for the photographer Timothy White. This includes a behind-the-scenes of the location shoot of 'Cowboys and Aliens' which was recognized in the Hollywood Reporter and by Director Jon Favreau. He has also created a short documentary of Timothy White's career, which was shown at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum during the exhibition of Hollywood celebrity portraits. He has produced an interview with David Black, Tony Award- Winning Broadway Producer, Director, Actor, Artist, Playwright, Teacher, Author. (Harsha De Silva on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/user13572929/videos )