Dance Canvas: Getting to know our Choreographers: Charly Santagado
by Lindsay Duncan
Orlando native Charly Santagado has had a passion for choreography ever since she was 5 years old. She often finds herself watching old home videos of her and her sister choreographing duets when they were young with absolute joy and imagination. Charly grew up as a competition dancer and began to slowly immerse herself in the world of contemporary and concert dance. Her passion, artistic integrity and experiences has led her to where she is today.
Charly attended Rutgers University, where she minored in dance. At Rutgers, she had the opportunity to choreograph a number of pieces for their student choreography concerts. Since then, her work has been shown across the country at dance festivals, most recently, the ‘Come Together Dance Festival’ in Philadelphia, PA.
She is currently in Israel studying with the internationally acclaimed, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. While in Isreal, Charly is immersing herself in ballet and Gaga technique classes, learning Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company Repertoire and creating her own choreography to be set on dancers in her program. While she is loving her experience, she is eager to come back home and pursue her work!
Inspiration for her work
Charly finds inspirations in all art genres. She tries to step out of her comfort zone by studying different dance styles. She has been “translating” various art forms into movement and plans to continue to do so in future pieces. And that is how she intends to create her piece for the Dance Canvas Performance Series. Charly and one of her close friends wrote two poems for her piece! She says, “The aim of the piece is to accurately translate both the form and content of the poems in question. Each word is translated into a corresponding movement, so that the audience can really “see” the poem. The poems both feature a repetitive structure, beginning with “I had a dream last night,” and “I will have a dream tonight,” respectively, which helps to display the physical language in a clear way.
Her advice for the next generation of artists.
Her advice for the next generation of artists is to be just that – artists. Rather than being “just” a choreographer / dancer, she suggests that artists should encompass all aspects of art. She emphasizes the importance of being “open to witnessing, appreciating, and forging connections between the various mediums of art because they are all highly related and have the ability to complement each other tremendously.”
Like many artists, Charly has the ability to transfer her dance skills and techniques into other mediums! A fun fact about Charly is that she was a competitive gymnast for her whole life and was on the Division 1 Rutgers Gymnastics team in college. She would use her choreographic skills to create floor routines for herself and her peers. She continues to write poetry and play the piano, which continues to fuel her artistic drive.
You can catch Charly’s piece at the Dance Canvas 11th Annual Performance Series at the Ferst Center for the Arts, March 22nd-23rd, 2019.
Follow up with Charly’s newest projects by following her personal account on Instagram and Twitter: @notsorrycharly, and her dance company’s Instagram: @mignolodance, Facebook: mignolo dance, Website: www.mignolo.dance
