Gianni Santucci

Choreographer and stage director Gianni Santucci studied classical dance in Arezzo, Italy (with Giovanna Papi), in Rome (with Michelle Ellis and Hélene Diolot), and in New York (with David Howard and Lisa Danias). He trained modern dance styles, also in New York (with Michael Owens, Michelle Assaf and Rick Atwell), and in Rome (with Silvie Moujolle), to pursue his studies of contemporary dance in New York (with Alvin Nikolais and Roger Tolle), in Rome (with Enrica Palmieri), and in France (at the Atelier de Paris – Carolyn Carlson, and at CCN Roubaix-Nord-Pas de Calais). An artist of great versatility, he has been active, at various stages of his career, as a dancer (1984–1992, with various Italian companies in Rome, Naples, Taormina, Urbino and Trieste, and with several dance ensembles in New York); professor of modern dance at the Centre Choréographique National de Roubaix-Nord-Pas de Calais; ballet master of the Bellini Theatre in Catania; teacher of classical and modern dance at a number of schools in Italy and elsewhere; drama-school teacher; musical-school teacher; and stage manager, chiefly of musical theatre productions in Rome and Trieste.

Following an early period as assistant director, he has evolved into a distinguished stage director, having to his credit an impressive list of productions and choreographies for films (among others, Il Viaggio della Sposa, dir. Sergio Rubini, 1997, awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Festival; Aprile, dir. Nanni Moretti, 1998; Matilde, dir. Luca Manfredi, 2005), drama (Aristophanes’ Gli Uccelli, dir. Renato Giordano, 2001), adaptations of literary works (Uomini e Dei, based on Cesare Pavese’s Dialogues with Leuco, Rome 2005; Inferno, two cantos from Dante’s Divina Commedia, Lecce 1990), operas (Le Roi de Lahore, dir. Arnaud Bernard, Teatro La Fenice, Venice 2004; Les Huguénots, dir. Arnaud Bernard, Martina Franca 2002), operettas (Trieste Operette Seasons 1997–1998); Operetta Festival 1988), and musicals (Musical – TSF, Rome 2004; Cancan, 1998/1999), as well as commercial promotional films and presentations (Peroni beer; car industry: Ferrari Marlboro Tour; Fiat; on the literary character, Pinocchio; publicity for the central Italian region of Lazio), and television shows (Domenica in; Fantastico). Apart from numerous Italian theatre, film and television companies, he has worked in the USA, Russia, Germany, Greece, and Spain.