April in New York

April is a month when I usually go to New York to participate Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP). This annual event is the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competition open to dance students of all nationalities between 9 to 19 years old. The pre-eliminatories are held around the world and the finals are in New York City where the students should present themselves in classical and contemporary solos, duos or ensembles.
The event gathers students from several parts of the world and it culminates to the gala called “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow” on the main stage of the Lincoln Center. The program is shared between the competition winners and the top class professional dancers of today.
Once I am in New York, I always visit my friend Alphonse Poulin, a teacher at the Juilliard School. After his wonderful dance classes we usually have a lunch together and we profit the moment to talk about lots of things, though the main subject is obvious: Dance.
We talk about the many aspects of the dancer’s life and education in order to be a good professional in the future. We both agree, that it is very important to master several techniques due to the tremendous variety of vocabulary the will have to deal with once engaged to the professional companies. The most significant techniques, in our point of view, are the modern dance (Graham, Limon, Cunningham etc.) and classical ballet, which is the basic way the body moves. Classical ballet is structured with emphasis on lifting up, poise and dramatic storytelling through fictional fables and it works well with the articulation and the elegance of the body. Contemporary and modern techniques create a breakaway from the rigidity of the classical ballet to the concept of being free and more bound to the earth. Nowadays there are several forms of contemporary dance that are quite structured too. Generally although no specific story line is demonstrated, there are ideas and outlines as a guide to the inspiration of the movement. Some choreographers will even ask the dancers to create their own sequences. If he as a professional has a good knowledge, he will be able to offer interesting material, not only to the choreographer but to the audience as well.
That is the goal of this big event I mentioned above. YAGP will observe the best equipped dancers that are able to manage not only the big amount of different techniques, but also the pressure of living abroad, far away from their families and local teachers. These dancers are given an opportunity to develop a career as an artist and within few years to become a professional dancer in a high standard company anywhere in the world: Europe, North America or even in Brazil, which at the moment is living an ebullient moment on the field of art.

Curriculum Vitae

Choreographer Tindaro Silvano

Tindaro Silvano was born in 1956 and began his training at the age of 18 with Prof. Carlos Leite at his hometown Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. His advanced training included classes with important ballet masters, such as Hugo Delavalle and Bettina Bellomo.

Mr. Silvano performed with the following companies as dancer:

Theatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Ballet Gulbenkian Lisbon, Portugal
Teatro Guaira Curitiba, Brazil
Palacio das Artes Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Worked as choreographer and ballet master e.g. for the following dance institutions in Brazil and other countries:

Teatro Argentino de la Plata Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bahia Ballet Salvador, Brazil
Balle Guaíra Curitiba, Brazil
Companhia de Dança de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Escola Bolshoi do Brasil Joinville, Brazil
Grupo Cisne Negro São Paulo, Brazil
Dansens Hus Copenhagen Denmark
Finnish National Ballet Helsinki, Finland
Finnish National Opera Ballet School Helsinki, Finland
Jeune Ballet de France Paris, France
Theater Nordhausen Nordhausen, Germany
Fontys Dance Conservatorium Tilburg, The Netherlands
Ballet Gulbenkian Lisbon, Portugal
Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporaneo Lisbon, Portugal
Escola Superior de dança Lisbon, Portugal
Theatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Mr. Silvano served as artistic director and choreographer in residence of Companhia de Dança de Minas Gerais from 1988 to 1996. During that period he created 15 new works and was awarded with several important prizes in many states of Brazil.

Nowadays he works as a free-lance dance teacher and choreographer and at the same time he servers as choreographer in chief from Ballet Jovem do Palacio das Artes in Belo Horizonte.
The public and the critics all over the world have received his numerous dance works with great acclaim.
During the years 2004-2005 he lived in Paris as invited artist at “Cité Internationale des Arts”.

His research interests include various topics in the field of different body training methods. He has devoted himself to Classical and Contemporary dance, Pilates, Alexander Technique, and different kinds of sports. On this basis he is able to teach pure classical ballet class or “Mixed techniques” which is his own blend of all the above mentioned techniques.

Contact information
Tindaro Silvano, choreographer
Rua Jurua 790 ap. 1902 Belo Horizonte
Minas Gerais 31.140-020, Brasil
tindaro.silvano@gmail.com