Fini Dance Festival Adds Jennifer Muller & Dancers From National Ballet Of Kosovo

Antonio Fini, producer of the Fini Dance Festival, has announced two additions to the August 31st program. 

NATIONAL BALLET OF KOSOVO principal dancers will perform a duet from "Migrations," Fini's second work for the company; and JENNIFER MULLER/THE WORKS in "Misere Nobis" in memoriam: Jennifer Muller (1944-2023) The 2014 work is an entreaty for mercy and grace, in an age of unspeakable conflict and cruelty, loss and grief, each of us asks forgiveness for all of us;

Thursday, August 31 at 8 PM Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street, NYCTickets: $50; $25 for students/seniors; $150 for performance and party. 

Antonio Fini, founder/director of the Fini Dance Festival and Italian International Dance Awards announces the 2023 event, August 31 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater.   At this 13th Anniversary event, Fini will present companies from the U.S. and Italy, presented in a spirit of exchange and collaboration.  The Awards portion of the evening will honor JANET EILBER, Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Dance Company, with a Lifetime Achievement Award.  Jonathan Mendez, a member of the all-male Ballet Eloelle Grandiva, will receive the Dancer Extraordinary Award and will also perform "The Dying Swan."  Marzia Memoli, a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Luigi Crispino of ABT, will be recognized with Rising Star Award.

This year's Fini Dance Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to JANET EILBER, Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

The Fini Dance Extraordinary Award will be awarded to JONATHAN MENDEZ, a member of the all-male Ballet Eloelle Grandiva.   Mendez will also perform "Dying Swan" at the evening's performance.

MARZIA MEMOLI, a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company, will receive the Fini Dance Rising Star Award. Past recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award include Alessandra Ferri, Edward Villella, and Luigi.

Artists scheduled to appear include NATIONAL BALLET OF KOSOVO principal dancers Aulone Nuihu and Fatmir Smani will perform a duet from"Migrations," Antonio Fini's second ballet for that Company.  "Migrations" received its premiere in Italy in July 2023;
JENNIFER MULLER/THE WORKS in "Misere Nobis"; FINI DANCE SUMMER STUDENTS - students from the Fini Summer Intensives in both Italy and New York; DZUL DANCE COMPANY of New York; MELANIA LIOTTA DANCE MOVEMENT from Sicily; ERMANNO RAVA and CRISTIAN PREBIBAJ from Italy, selected by Fini after their appearance on Dancing with the Stars in Italy; MARZIA MEMOLI, member of the Martha Graham Dance Company; JONATHAN MENDEZ, dancing The Dying Swan.

ANTONIO FINI was born in Castrovillari, a village in the south of Italy.  At 19, he was discovered by Margherita Smirnova and offered a scholarship to Milan's Centro Studi Coreografici Teatro Carcano, whree he studied with Aldo Masella and Renata Bestetti.  At the suggestion of master teacher Elena Albano, Fini traveled to New York to study at the Martha Graham Center and subsequently danced with Graham II and the Martha Graham Dance Company.  He also graduated from the School as a certified teacher of the Graham Technique. Fini is a longtime principal dancer with Michael Mao Dance of New York, and was a special guest for a recent Martha Graham Dance Company season.  Since 2018 the Calabria native has been ambassador of Dance as a means of diplomacy for the ACD Agency for Cultural Diplomacy in Vienna.  He has choreographed for New York City Opera and the National Ballet of Kosovo, among others, and has been producer and artistic director of the Italian International Dance Award in New York, the Tirana Dance Festival, Bulgarian International Dance Festival, and the documentary film on Amazon Primetime DANCE the audition.

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