Maria Simonetti
Choreographer
She was born in Argentina. She studied dance at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. She first appeared as a dancer with La Joven Guardia of Ballet Nacional de Cuba and worked as assistant to Laura Alonso and stage manager of the Cuballet (Champaign Urbana Ballet) institution in the USA. She participated in the dance classes of The Magda Auñon School of Classical Ballet, of the Baltimore School of the Arts and of Point Park University, Pittsburgh. In 1995 she became a gymnastics instructor at the Hubbard Street Dance Center, Chicago. She collaborated with choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Daniel Ezralow and Kevin O'Day. In 1997 she was Ballet Mistress at the Arizona Ballet, while she continued her active participation as visiting artist. She was collaborator of Daniel Ezralow in various productions such as Mandala, with which they toured North America, Aeros, an avant-garde performance for the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Torino,notte di stelle, for Italian television channel RAI Uno etc. As a choreorapher she staged the production Lady lost found for the Bratislava Ballet. She is a visiting professor of the Hubbard Street Dance Center, the Netherlands Dans Theater and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. With the Greek National Opera she collaborated during artistic season 2007-08 in the Divertimenti choreography of the Napoli Ballet (she appeared with the operas Paquita and The Moor's Pavane).