Assis Carreiro
Artist Management
International Arts &
Cultural Projects
Nicolo Fonte
Photo: Filip Van Roe
Beautiful Decay
Nicolo Fonte
The Press
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"Fonte's Steep Drop, Euphoric, a gorgeous, emotionally rich piece. From the first moments, when a single dancer stands silhouetted against a long scroll of material, I was so caught up in the beauty and drama of what was taking place on stage it felt as though I was holding my breath. Fonte’s choreography effectively translates the inner movements of the mind into physical movement."
Flora Ward, theartblog
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"The standout of the night, Nicolo Fonte’s Steep Drop, Euphoric, is a gleefully dramatic and technically challenging closer."
Miryam Coppersmith, thINKig DANCE
"Grace Action... was the company's greatest hit with the audience. Anyone can see why. It has stunning lighting by Brad Fields, with 12 search light-like lamps creating different beams across the stage (we might be in a planetarium); the dancers are dressed by Martha Chamberlain in midnight blue; and the Philip Glass music is easy on the ear. Mr. Fonte's dances are likewise very easy on the eye, and this is the finest work I have seen by him. It features handsome group configurations and arresting motifs, notably a descending gesture of one curved arm, variously embroidered into the dances… the prettiness is exceptional."
Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times
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”Fox on the Doorstep” is an aesthetic wonder — rich in design and depth, contrasts and textures. Dancers seem to adopt a new dialect within the ballet language when performing Fonte’s choreography. Whether his messages are heavily abstracted or nonexistent, audience members will come away inspired spiritually and emotionally."
Heather Hayes, The Desert News
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"Nicolo Fonte's See(k) is memorable for the sheer beauty of the visual and aural relationship. Fonte's choreography takes an explicit balletic direction, using extended lines and soaring jumps to exploit (The Houston Ballet's) strong technical base. In the central pas de deux he introduces moments of fluid lyricism in wrapping and folding sequences, sensitively interpreted by Melissa Hough and Connor Walsh."
Maggie Foyer, Dance Europe
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Nicolo Fonte
Nicolo's video reel is here.
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Choreographer Nicolo Fonte is known for his unique movement language as well as the highly developed fusion of ideas, dance and design that is a hallmark of his work. A first generation American, Fonte- whose parents emigrated to the US from Argentina, started dancing at the age of 14. He studied at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, San Francisco Ballet, School of American Ballet and also completed a Bachelor Degree of Fine Arts at SUNY Purchase. His dance career took him from Peridance in NYC, to Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and, ultimately to Nacho Duato's CoChoreographermpañia Nacional de Danza in Madrid.
Fonte received a Choo San Goh award for Almost Tango, his 2002 choreography for Pacific Northwest Ballet. Almost Tango was also voted as one of Dance Europe's "Best Premiere's” when it was re-staged for The Australian Ballet in 2004. His very first full-length work Re: Tchaikovsky, created for The Gothenburg Ballet in 2005, appeared on the "Best of 2005" lists of both Ballett-Tanz and Dance Europe. Since that time, Fonte has created an additional two full-evening works, both for BalletX (Philadelphia): Beautiful Decay (2013), and Beasts (2015).
Fonte’s choreography has been performed by companies large and small all over the globe – from Het National Ballet in Amsterdam to the National Dance Company of El Salvador. In addition to his three original full-length ballets, re-invigorated versions of classic scores, and extraordinary collaborations with artists across many disciplines are all well represented in Mr. Fonte’s work over the past twenty years. From 2002 to 2006 Nicolo enjoyed an ongoing creative partnership with The Gothenburg Ballet in Sweden, and has been an important contributor to the repertories of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and BalletX in Philadelphia.
Nicolo was for many years Resident Choreographer for both Oregon Ballet Theatre where he contributed numerous successful works to the repertory of the company.
Recent commissions include Steep Drop, Euphoric, for Ballet X and new works for Ballet West. In 2018, Nicolo created Carmina Burana for Cincinnati Ballet and Love's Lost Idols for Astana Ballet in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
2019/20 sees staging of Nicolo's acclaimed Bolero for Nevada Ballet Theatre and Ballet West. In November 2020, Ballet West presented the triumphant world premiere of Nicolo's Faraway Close, one of the only live performances presented in the USA during COVID-19.
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Nicolo is Resident Choreographer at Ballet West in Salt Lake City. Projects in 21/22 included new creations for Oklahoma Ballet and Jr. Ballet Antwerp in Belgium and staging Carmina Burana for both Nevada Ballet Theatre and Cincinnati Ballet. Nicolo also created Divenire, a new work for Tulsa Ballet. In 2023 he returned to Ballet X to create a new full-evening ballet, Sidd - A Hero's Journey inspired by Herman Hesse's novel, Siddartha.
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In 2024/25, Nicolo is staging his Rite of Spring for Alberta Ballet in Canada and for Ballet West as well as staging works for, among others, Boulder Ballet.
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@nicolofonte