Experimentation and research, the key elements to choreographer Enzo Celli’s work, power his unconditional love for contemporary dance and theatre. His relentless curiosity gave birth to a structured technique permeated by poetry and aiming to become part of the current Avant-garde.

Even though Celli has codified a technical language belonging to the contemporary dance field called MEME, it is the use of simple gestures appreciated by the audience that the essence of his poetic language reveals itself. Enzo Celli’s work, focusing on man, from the start has aimed to create an uncommon poetic language able to deal with sociological topics.

In 1995, he founded his first company, Botega, whose activities and productions aroused the interest of Vittoria Ottolenghi. It was Ottolenghi’s interest in Celli’s work that encouraged him to develop his natural instinct towards choreography. From this encouragement he gave birth to his first works: I trionfi del Petrarca with music by Maestro Berio, Ovo, una Maratona per Peter Gabriel with music by Peter Gabriel as well as a collaboration with Lindsay Kemp. Since 2008, Celli has collaborated with Bashkortostan State Academy in Russia and UFMG University in Brazil. In September 2011, Peridance Capezio Center in New York awarded him the Contemporary Dance Master Teacher Award. While in New York, he was able to develop and codify the MEME technique he used while working with Botega.

In the spring of 2012, while on tour with Botega Dance Company in Brazil, he carried out a social project at Centro ADAV in Ibiritè aimed to realize choreography performed by boys and girls coming from hard social and economical environments. That July, he moved to the United States where he taught several MEME technique classes at Peridance Capezio Center and Dance New Amsterdam (in collaboration with Modern Guest Artist series) in New York. By October he was a guest instructor at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) in Huntsville, Texas. During his residency in the United States, he joined renowned festivals in New York, Philadelphia and Houston allowing him the opportunity to perform Faun at the James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Art Center in Huntsville along with the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theatre for the Dance Gallery Festival.

By 2013, Igal Perry had commissioned Enzo Celli, Ohad Naharin, Dwight Rhoden and Sidra Bell, to create new work for Peridance Contemporary Dance Company. Celli’s work I’m HERE debuted at the Salvatore Capezio Theatre in New York. He also reestablished The Rite of Spring for the Peridance Certificate Program. That fall, Enzo received an artistic residency from SHSU where he taught several MEME classes and created the commissioned work Buona Strada for the student company. Celli rounded out 2013 with performances by CELLI CONTEMPORARY BALLET at Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theatre for the Dance Gallery Festival and Salvatore Capezio Theatre in NYC for “Peridance Presents” as well as a teaching residency at Sarah Lawrence Dance College in New York.

Thanks to Enzo Celli’s versatility in dance, he is able to venture on to works that are not closely related to contemporary dance. In 2014, he was called to make the choreography for Musical Officer of John Paul II.

His latest work, Giselle, debuted at Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome with fifteen minutes of applause in November 2014.

In 2015 he founded VIVO, new project that forms part of contemporary dance into which all previous experiences in creative and formative.

Below are some of the choreographer’s most important works and collaborations: June 2006 Celli was a collaborating choreographer for the event “L’amour et son amour, l’uomo che danza e la sua aspirazione” directed by Vittoria Ottolenghi and performed by the soloists Roberto Bolle, Vladimir Derevianko and Viviana Durante at Todi Festival. Also in June 2006, Botega Dance Company, together with Alvin Ailey Company, Bèjart Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and Staatsballet München, joined the Dance Gala Amores as a guest company under the direction of Vittoria Ottolenghi. 2008 brought Celli to the Bashkir State Academy in the Republic of Bashkortostan (Ufa, Russia) to teach and collaborate with the Russian Drama Theatre. That was also the year that Botega performed Subway at La Cigale Theatre in Paris. In 2011,

Botega Dance Company performed Fragile at the Russian Drama Theatre and at the Na Strastnom Theatre in Moscow. In September 2009, Enzo Celli was a resident choreographer at Topaz Art in New York and debuted at Versiliana Festival in August 2010 with his remake of Giselle to great reviews and success. He was also a guest at the Erfurt Opera House (Germany) that same year. In 2012, his Company was a guest at Yesou (Korea) for Expo 2012.