Michael Montanaro is a trans-disciplinary artist who is best known for his work in the field of dance and mixed media.
A graduate of the Hartford Conservatory, he has performed with the Boston Ballet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens and Le Groupe de la Place Royale where he also served as Assistant Artistic Director. In 1985 he founded Montanaro Dance, developing a reputation for using cutting edge technology to create theatrical environments for his choreography. Over its ten-year history Montanaro Dance toured both nationally and internationally.
Since 1996 Michael has worked as a choreographer/collaborator on numerous projects including the Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai, Opéra de Montréal`s multi-media version of Carmina Burana, Centaur Theatre’s A Winters Tale, the documentary Montanaro In Time, a series of short films entitled Dances for Small Spaces – Ame and Dances for Small Spaces – 411, as well as other shorts such as The Magic of Love: Mozart’s Tango and Frankenstein’s Ghosts.
Michael is the current chair of the Department of Contemporary Dance, Concordia University and a member of the Topological Media Lab and Hexagram, Institute for Research/Creation in Media Arts.