Marie-Christine Giordano

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Teacher Bio

Marie-Christine Giordano is known for her hypnotic and magnetic performances. Critics have hailed her for her “admirable intensity” (Jack Anderson, New York Times), “unique aura and communicative power,” and “shining artistry” (Philip Gardner, Oberon’s Grove). Gio Kourlas wrote in the New York Times that she “is clearly a choreographer committed to constructing a personal dance vocabulary.”

Her riveting work has earned her commissions from, for example, Vienna...read more

Marie-Christine Giordano is known for her hypnotic and magnetic performances. Critics have hailed her for her “admirable intensity” (Jack Anderson, New York Times), “unique aura and communicative power,” and “shining artistry” (Philip Gardner, Oberon’s Grove). Gio Kourlas wrote in the New York Times that she “is clearly a choreographer committed to constructing a personal dance vocabulary.”

Her riveting work has earned her commissions from, for example, Vienna’s International Dance Festival, the city of Fribourg, Switzerland, the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the Swiss Institute, the Human Company, the Joffrey Summer Intensive, and the Museum of the Swiss Abroad Foundation. Ms. Giordano has been the recipient of Swiss scholarships, the Martha Graham Contemporary Dance School Merit Scholarship, grants from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Brooklyn Arts Council, and Second Prize from the Concours de la Scène Française.

Giordano grew up in French-speaking Fribourg, Switzerland. In her late teens, she studied ballet with Beatrix Consuelo in Geneva and Marika Besobrasova in Monte Carlo. She came to New York to study at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. After three years, she moved on to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, where she earned its Professional Trainee Certificate. With the Graham Dance Company, she performed in New York and internationally.

Giordano has created a singular modern dance technique and Giordano Alignment, which she developed and taught at Broadway Dance Center, New Dance Group, and Abizaid Arts Studio in Manhattan. In 2001, she moved to Brooklyn, where she began to teach year-round company classes, as well as offering classes to professionals, nonprofessionals, and public school children. In 2002, she founded Marie-Christine Giordano Dance (MCGD). To date, it has presented nine full-evening creations.

In 2011, the Joffrey Ballet School Summer Intensives invited her to join its faculty. Lately, she has expanded her teaching activities to giving master classes for international dance institutions. She is also the curator of the Artists’ Salon series.

Her last creation took place at BAM Fisher, June 2-3, 2017.

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Class Descriptions

Contemporary Modern

Ms. Giordano's technique, based on principles of modern dance and ballet she considers valuable, develops in her dancers a powerful center, granting them the freedom to explore the full potential of their physical and artistic expression. It is a unique approach to movement, incorporating spirals, circular movements, crisp lines, shifts of weight, slow motion, a distinctive dynamic, and the capacity to veer from total control to total abandon. The technique is respectful of a healthy alignment, of the back, and articulations (Giordano’s Alignment) and guides students who want to become dancers and artists seeking a long career.