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ERNESTA CORVINO studied ballet with Margaret Craske, Antony Tudor, Alfredo Corvino and Andra Corvino. At the age of 14 she joined the Maryland Ballet as soloist then went on to dance with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and Radio City Music Hall Ballet Company. She toured the U.S. with the American Chamber Ballet and went to Asia with the Opera Theatre of New York. She has also performed with Ruby Shang, Bill Badolato, Roberto Cartagena and ethnic dance specialist, Matteo. In 1991 she became a member of the New York Baroque Dance Company appearing in New York City, the Carmel Bach Festival , The Kennedy Center and in Europe. Ms. Corvino has also performed as a baroque soloist with Apollo’s Banquet. |
In 1981 she formed her own company, ERNESTA CORVINO’S DANCE CIRCLE COMPANY, which appeared annually at the Riverside Dance Festival in New York City from 1982-87. The company has also performed at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, the Downtown Dance Festival, the Meet-the-Artist Series at Lincoln Center, USDAN Center, Randolph-Macon Womans College, the Nikolais/Louis ChoreoSpace and Marymount Manhattan Theatre. Ms. Corvino has choreographed over twenty pieces for the company ranging from a Charlie Chaplin two-reeler to a ballet about the Kentucky Derby. Well-known for her wry treatment of popular culture in ballets such as the critically acclaimed Holmes, Sweet Holmes, Ms. Corvino is equally adept at crafting works of pathos and tragedy. Her recently created The Early Morning Hours of the Hard Moon is a tender and heroic treatment of one man’s struggle with AIDS and of Somnus, Jennie Schulman of Backstage wrote, “This is one of the most novel utilizations of the Ravel score ever conceived.”
From 1968 to 1993 she was teacher and co-director of her own school, DANCE CIRCLE in New York City. Her teaching credits also include the Juilliard School, the Inner-City Ensemble, the Governor’s School of New Jersey, Randolph-Macon Womans College, the Tappan Zee Dance Group, SUNY/ Purchase, and Stephens College (all for whom she has choreographed), as well as Sarah Lawrence College, SUNY/Brockport, Long Island University, STEPS ON BROADWAY, Danspace of Oakland, CA. and the Jose Limon Dance Company.
Ms. Corvino frequently teaches, choreographs and performs as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Recently she has appeared at the Kaye Playhouse in New York City and The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in From The Horse’s Mouth, a live dance documentary. She currently teaches open classes at the Lawrence A. Wien Center for Dance and Theatre in New York City, performs in the U.S. and Denmark with BALLET MINK COLBERT and conducts workshops throughout Europe.
