Bruce Michelson

Bruce Michelson was born in Rochester, New York (USA) in 1959 and started his dance career in Horton- and Limon-based companies in New York and Philadelphia. He danced the classics with Pittsburgh Ballet, before crossing the Atlantic to join the Hamburg Ballet in 1981. From there, he went on to dance in Rambert Dance Co., Geneva Ballet (as a soloist), and 1990-94 in Kylián’s NDT. He was balletmaster with the Zurich Ballet and Ballet Gulbenkian, and opened a new chapter in 2000 as an independent guest teacher for companies and schools across Europe.

Based in Florence, assistant to the choreographer Itzik Galili, journalist and Artistic Coordinator for the Biennale Danza e Italia.

What do you teach? Ballet, Cunningham and workshops in contemporary repertoire. I see my work as a teacher as that of an enabler – helping dancers to build links be­tween the basic principles of technique and the rest of their work. Main tools I use in this task are applied alignment, release and freedom of the articulations, and a conscientious approach to musicality. But whatever the technique, it’s the same body, same space and gravity, and the same inner issues of personal evolution, as well. There’s so ...