{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}} '''Elisa Monte''' (born May 23, 1946) is an American artistic director, choreographer, and dancer who founded Elisa Monte Dance in New York City.<ref>{{cite journal|last=S|first=C|title=Elisa Monte|journal=Current Biography|date=June 2007|page=43}}</ref> Monte's first choreographic work, ''Treading'' (1979), defined her as an important innovator and contributor to contemporary dance. Her signature style, recognized as "daring, intense, and passionate, is classical and highly athletic."<ref>{{cite web|last=Monte |first=Elisa |title=Elisa Monte, Artistic Director |url=http://www.elisamontedance.org/index_new.php?pgID=15 |publisher=Elisa Monte Dance |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425033306/http://www.elisamontedance.org/index_new.php?pgID=15 |archivedate=April 25, 2014 }}</ref>
== Early life == Monte was born in Brooklyn, New York to Anthony Montemarano, a bookkeeper, and Elisa Montemarano. Both Monte and her older sister, Barbara, former Broadway performer, later shortened their surname to Monte.<ref>{{cite journal|last=S|first=C|title=Elisa Monte|journal=Current Biography|date=June 2007|page=43}}</ref>
Monte started her dance training in 1955 at the age of 9, studying ballet under the tutelage of Russian classical dancer Vladimir Dokoudovsky.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dunning|first=Jennifer|title=Elisa Monte: Choreographer Seeking Ancient Beginnings|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/14/arts/elisa-monte-choreographer-seeking-ancient-beginnings.html|accessdate=April 24, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 14, 1988}}</ref> Monte continued her ballet training through high school, taking classes at the School of American Ballet while attending the Professional Children's School for her formal education.<ref>{{cite journal|last=S|first=C|title=Elisa Monte|journal=Current Biography|date=June 2007|page=43}}</ref> Years later, Monte joined the professional dance world, beginning her modern dance studies with the Pearl Lang Dance Theater.<ref>{{cite journal|last=S|first=C|title=Elisa Monte|journal=Current Biography|date=June 2007|page=43}}</ref>
== Dance career == Monte made her professional debut dancing with Agnes DeMille in the 1957 Broadway revival of Carousel, but her modern dance debut was not until the late 60s when she performed with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company.<ref>{{cite journal|last=S|first=C|title=Elisa Monte|journal=Current Biography|date=June 2007|page=44}}</ref> In 1974 Monte joined Martha Graham Dance Company, performing as a principal dancer in such classics as ''Seraphic Dialogue'', ''Clytemnestra'', ''Appalachian Spring'', and ''O Thou Desire Who Art About to Sing.''<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Dance|encyclopedia=The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia|date=October 1, 1999|page=169|publisher=Routledge}}</ref> In 1977, Moses Pendleton, a founding member of Pilobolus Dance Theatre, invited Monte to join the company for their 1977–78 season, during which Monte created ''Molly's Not Dead'' with Pilobolus, foretelling her future career as a choreographer.<ref>{{cite news|last=Anderson|first=Jack|title=Alvin Ailey to Open with Elisa Monte Premiere|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/02/arts/alvin-ailey-to-open-with-elisa-monte-premiere.html|accessdate=April 24, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 2, 1982}}</ref>
In 1979, Monte and fellow Graham dancer, David Brown, starred in her first choreographic work, ''Treading''; created during a Graham workshop for the company.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dunning|first=Jennifer|title=Elisa Monte: Choreographer Seeking Ancient Beginnings|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/14/arts/elisa-monte-choreographer-seeking-ancient-beginnings.html|accessdate=April 24, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 14, 1988}}</ref> As the piece was performed around NYC, critics and audiences alike marveled at the new choreographer's work. Monte was praised for "tun[ing] in to the sensuousness of the music" to create an effect "as lulling at the music."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Goldner|first=Nancy|title=The electric Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and its many moods|journal=The Christian Science Monitor|date=May 18, 1981|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0518/051802.html}}</ref> One reviewer wrote, "Monte's choreography is a significant addition to post-modernist dance, as effective as it is unusual."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wilk|first=David|title=Ailey troupe impresses – and disappoints|journal=The Christian Science Monitor|date=May 2, 1984|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0502/050206.html}}</ref> This not only led to the formation of her company, but also established Monte as an important innovator and contributor to contemporary dance.
== Elisa Monte Dance ==
=== The Formation === In 1981, Monte formed Elisa Monte Dance (EMD) with the "conviction of bridging cultural barriers through the universal language of dance."<ref>{{cite journal|last=S.|first=C.|title=Elisa Monte|journal=Current Biography|date=June 2007|page=42}}</ref> Around the same time as the company's formation, legendary choreographer Alvin Ailey saw the performance of ''Treading'' and quickly brought the piece to his company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Monte was soon commissioned for a second piece for the Ailey Company, ''Pigs and Fishes'', which debuted at City Center in 1982.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kisselgoff|first=Anna|title=Dance: Monte Company Opens at the Joyce|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/17/arts/dance-monte-company-opens-at-the-joyce.html|accessdate=April 24, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 17, 1988}}</ref> She explained, "to me, pigs and fishes symbolize some of the basic things in life."<ref>{{cite news|last=Anderson|first=Jack|title=Alvin Ailey to Open with Elisa Monte Premiere|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/02/arts/alvin-ailey-to-open-with-elisa-monte-premiere.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 2, 1982}}</ref> Monte's jazzy, primal movements and swinging arcs of the pelvis produced "... a dance of great, almost violent energy... a bold exploration of space made by dancers pushing themselves beyond the bounce."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lewis|first=Maggie|title=A strong start marks the arrival of Elisa Monte's dance company|journal=The Christian Science Monitor|date=August 23, 1982|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0823/082301.html}}</ref> The success of both pieces with the well-established Ailey Company helped launch EMD into the modern dance world, as well as concrete the friendship between Monte and her new mentor, Ailey.
In 1982, EMD was named Best Company at the International Dance Festival of Paris.<ref>{{cite news|last=Nicholson|first=David|title=Dance Speaks Language Before Words|url=https://www.dailypress.com/2001/05/20/dance-speaks-language-before-words/|access-date=April 24, 2014|newspaper=Daily Press|date=March 20, 2001}}</ref>
=== Monte/Brown Dance === As the company grew, Monte, with partner Brown as artistic director, created new works with a focus on diversity and multidisciplinary collaboration. A few years after the formation of the company, Monte and Brown married, and Brown began to choreograph new works for the company alongside Monte.<ref>{{cite news|last=Reardon|first=Christopher|title=Dance; A Marriage of Opposites, a Merger of Equals|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/06/arts/dance-a-marriage-of-opposites-a-merger-of-equals.html|accessdate=April 24, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 6, 1999}}</ref> In 1987, their daughter, Elia Monte-Brown, was born, and the formation of the family harmonized with the growth of the company: "For me, my work and my personal life are one thing. It's not two separate compartments to me at all. The art I do as a dancer-choreographer has always been who I am, and who I'm married to is who I am, and my child is who I am. So for me, it's all one picture." On June 27, 2020 she became a grandmother to Gaetana Jean.
<ref>{{cite journal|last=S.|first=C.|title=Elisa Monte|journal=Current Biography|date=June 2007|page=46}}</ref> In 1998, Monte changed the company's name to Monte/Brown Dance.<ref>{{cite journal|last=S.|first=Samuels|journal=Dance Magazine|year=1998|volume=72|series=5|pages=23–24|publisher=Dance Magazine Inc.|issn=0011-6009}}</ref> Under this new name, the company continued to grow with new works by the artists. In 2002, Monte and Brown divorced, and the company returned to its original name, Elisa Monte Dance.<ref>{{cite journal|last=S.|first=C.|title=Elisa Monte|journal=Current Biography|date=June 2007|page=46}}</ref>
Rooted in sensuality and controlled, sustained energy, Monte's work is notable for its expansive range of movement; hers is a diverse movement vocabulary that refuses stylistic conformity.<ref>{{cite web|last=Monte |first=Elisa |title=Elisa Monte, Artistic Director |url=http://www.elisamontedance.org/index_new.php?pgID=15 |publisher=Elisa Monte Dance |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425033306/http://www.elisamontedance.org/index_new.php?pgID=15 |archivedate=April 25, 2014 }}</ref> Monte often collaborates with artists in other disciplines, examples being: composers Glenn Branca, Richard Peaslee, Barbara Kolb, David Van Tieghem, Joe Dallarda; architects Todd Williams and Billie Tsien; visual artists Marisol who costumed Treading and set design for Next Wave’s commission of Set in Stone, and Philip Tsiaras; and photographer and close friend, Roy Volkmann, for whom the 1985 piece, ''Volkmann Suite'', was named.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Zimmer|first=Elizabeth|title=Fall Dance|journal=The Village Voice|date=September 9, 2003}}</ref>
Since the Company's inception, Monte has choreographed more than 50 works danced by this company and others, including Boston Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Ballet Gulbenkian of Portugal, Teatro alla Scala Ballet, Philadanco, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theater, the Batsheva Dance Company of Israel, and the PACT Contemporary Dance Company of South Africa; and has served as choreographer-in-residence at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Grant Weaver|first=Thomas|title=Performing Arts|journal=Catskill Mountain Foundation: Guide Magazine|date=April 2003}}</ref> Monte was among the first choreographers awarded commission by the National Choreography Project. This resulted in Monte creating ''VII for VIII'' for the Boston Ballet.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Foster|first=Catherine|author2=Maggie Lewis |author3=Daniel B. Wood |title=Salty Texas one-acts at Alley; street dancing at Boston Ballet; Arrau|journal=The Christian Science Monitor|date=March 14, 1985}}</ref>
She retired from Elisa Monte Dance in 2016. Elisa Monte Dance no longer exists.
== Choreography == * Treading (1979) * Pell Mell (1981) * Anima (1982) * Pigs and Fishes (1982) * Lifetime (1983) * Indoors (1984) * Set in Stone (1984) * VII for VIII (1985) * White Dragon (1985) * Dreamtime (1986) * Audentity (1987) * Turtles Eat Bones (1987) * Dextra Dei (1989) * Split Personality (1989) * The World Upside Down (1990) with David Brown * Last Temptation (1991) * Between Going and Staying (1992) * Broken Journey (1992) * Diamond Song (1993) * Fatidic Embrace (1994) with David Brown * Mnemonic Verses (1994) commissioned by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater * Vejle/Border Crossing (1994) with David Brown * Feu Follet (1995) with David Brown * New York Moonglow (1995) * Sticks and Stones (1996) with David Brown * Volkmann Suite (1996) * Tears Rolling (1997) * Hurricane Deck (1998) * Spin (1998) * Amor Fati (1999) * Day's Residue (2000) * Shattered (2000) * Light Lies (2002) * Lost Objects (2002) * Shekhina (2004) * A Woman's Way (2005) * Via Sacra (2005) * Hardwood (2006) * Slope of Enlightenment (2007) * Arrow's Path (2009) * Zydeco, Zare (2009) with Tiffany Rea-Fisher and Joe Celej * Continuum (2010) * Vanishing Languages (2011) * Unstable Ground (2012) * Terra Firma (2013) * Lonely Planet (2014)
== References == {{reflist}}
=== Bibliography === * Anderson, Jack. (May 2, 1982) [https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/02/arts/alvin-ailey-to-open-with-elisa-monte-premiere.html "Alvin Ailey to Open with Elisa Monte Premiere,"] The New York Times * Dunkel, Ellen. (June 4, 1999). Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) * Poon, Kina (March 2001). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140912041051/http://dancemagazine.com/issues/March-2011/Dance-Matters-Upward-Momentum Dance Matters: Upward Momentum]," Dance Magazine * S.,C. (June 2007). "Elisa Monte," Current Biography Magazine
== External links == * [http://www.elisamontedance.org/ Elisa Monte Dance] * {{IBDB name|109845}} * {{IMDb name|id=1501725|name=Elisa Monte}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monte, Elisa}} Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:American contemporary dancers Category:American female dancers Category:Dancers from New York (state) Category:People from Brooklyn Category:21st-century American women Category:Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater