Fresh Friday with Tommaso Petrolo
12th May 2023
Our tutor for the second and third year students’ Fresh Friday this week is Tommaso Petrolo. Tommaso’s dance training with established artists laid the foundations on which he thrives today both as a choreographer, performer and educator.
After graduating from Balletto di Roma in ballet technique, he moved to N.Y.C. to complete his contemporary dance studies at Peridance Capezio Center. There he joined Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, directed by Igal Perry and performed with renowned choreographers such as Sidra Bell, Francesca Harper (Forsythe), Charlotta Hofverholm (DV8), Manuel Vignoulle (Cedar Lake), Gregory Dolbashian (The Ensemble), amongst others. He has also collaborated with the likes Van Huynh Company, for which he works as Artistic Assistant, and Rehearsal Director, Tavaziva, Rob Heaslip Dance Company, Mathieu Geffré, Neus Gil Cortés, Joao Cidade, Martino Muller amongst others.
Over the past 12 years Tommaso has built an extensive career as a performer and more recently as a maker. His previous works as a choreographer include two majorly acclaimed solos: She (2019) commissioned by Dance Bridges Festival, PrEp ME (2017) performed at The Point Eastleigh as part of Pitch dealing with Queer thematics and a duet “There’ll Be” (2021) with Contemporary Vocalist Elaine Mitchener premiere at Cafe Oto in London. Tommaso has collaborated with renowned composers such as Mitchener, Dai Fujikura, Tansy Davies, Matt Wright, Laure M. Hiendl and through these collaborations his practice has expanded across disciplines to include extended forms of vocal improvisation.
His teaching skills are in demand and he regularly collaborates with The Place (LCDS) , Tripspace, The Hub Studios, Canterbury Christ Church University, London Studio Centre, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama amongst others. In today’s workshop Tommaso will incorporate both technical and improvisational elements guiding the dancers through an efficient and functional warm up.
In the first half Tommaso aims to give freedom to the body to express its needs as much as requires a technical base as a support; The second part of the class is dedicated to choreographic composition in which the dancers learn a musical and dynamic sequence. The dancers will be asked to quickly access a very intricate and musical language, to break out of the movement codification dance imposes on our bodies in order to give it complete freedom and expressivity.