J O E A L E G A D O
Joe Alegado began his dance training in 1972 in Corpus Christi, Texas with Nancy Sulik at Ballet Academy and later with Larry and Bettye Roquemore at Corpus Christi Ballet. After three years of ballet and jazz technique, he auditioned and was accepted into the Ballet Hispanico of New York. Through having worked with the esteemed guest choreographer Talley Beatty and with Mr. Beatty recommendation to Alvin Ailey, he was given a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey Dance School where, in less than three months, he was invited to join the Repertory Ensemble (Alvin Ailey II). After two years there, his desire to expand his dance knowledge led him to an audition for the Jose Limon Dance Company. He was accepted and quickly became a soloist in some of Limon’s famous roles.
While with these companies, he performed in many parts of Central and South America, Europe and the Far East as well as throughout the United States. In addition, he performed on national television in Leonard Bernstein’s “MASS” for the 10th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
He has worked and been coached by many dance luminaries throughout his career such as Alvin Ailey, Talley Beatty, Sylvia Waters, Ulysses Dove, Pearl Primus, Dianne McIntyre, Donald McKayle, Lucas Hoving, Anna Sokolow, Murray Louis, Carla Maxwell and Jennifer Scanlon. His teaching has taken him to many countries throughout the world including the United States, Canada, several countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Far East. Aside from teaching in a multitude of festivals, companies, conservatories and private studios, he has been guest professor in several universities and dance institutions such as:
– Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio, USA)
– Southern University of Utah (Cedar City, Utah, USA)
– Instituto del Teatro (Barcelona, Spain)
– CAT (Sevilla, Spain)
– Folkwangshule (Essen Werden, Germany)
– Isadora Duncan Conservatory (Prague, Czech Republic)
– Ballet School of the Vienna Opera (Vienna, Austria)
– Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy (Budapest, Hungary)
He has been on the dance faculty at the prestigious Impuls Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria for thirty seven years where he was one of five original teachers to be invited.
In 1982, he was contracted by the United States Information Agency (USIS – an arts branch of the U.S. Embassy) to travel to Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Barbados and Czechoslavakia as a cultural ambassador where he was asked to use dance as the vehicle for better communication and understanding between nations.
His choreographies have been performed by companies in Spain, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and the Czech Republic as well as the United States.
– In 1984: he created a solo entitled Silent Soliloquy for the Corpus Christi Ballet (Corpus Christi, Texas) performed in the Southwest Regional Ballet Festival Gala Evening.
– Between 1984 and 1986, he established a dance project (Contemporary Dance Theater-CC,Tx.) where he created many works as well an evening production in collaboration with the Texas Jazz Festival.
– In 1987, he collaborated with the famous Brazilian composer/performer Egberto Gismonti in a dance production (Iemanja) for Tanz Forum Cologne (Opera House in Cologne, Germany).
– From 1989 to 2014, he began a choreographic collaboration with Bralen DanceTheater from Bratislava, Slovakia where he created many works.
– From 1991 to 1993, he created a choreographic project in Barcelona, Spain in which he produced works for a small core of selected dancers from Slovakia and Spain.
These works initiated a creative period which, to this day, has formed the nucleus of a choreographic productivity based on the universal experiences of man and woman and the human condition, in general, in this age of societal upheaval.
– In 2004, he created and performed the solo De Frag; for the Black Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria.
– In 2007, he choreographed and performed in a duet with his longtime dance associate Katarina Vlnieskova entitled The Promise and performed in Menorca, Spain.
– In 2008, he was commissioned to create a full evening choreography for the Theatre on Terazije in Belgrade, Serbia. His creation, entitled Earth, began the cycle of creations based on Man’s destructive tendencies in this technological age.
– In January of 2009, he began a collaboration with Lucia Drabkova on the duet; Moving Still Point; (an autobiographical creation). This project led to the creation of the full length production by the same name as well as the establishment of the Jalegado Dance Company (JDC, Prague, Czech Republic) in October 2009.
– In November of 2010, JDC had the premiere of its first full evening work entitled Moving Still Point; in Trutnov, Czech Republic (CZ).
– On December 12, 2012, JDC premiered its second full evening work In Betweeno Worlds in Prague. Performances of this production followed in Tubingen, Germany and Trutnov and Brno (CZ).
– In 2013, he created a full evening of diverse short works (Luz, Distant Shores, At The Brink, Still The Night, Full Moon Rising, Aporia, Perpetuum) performed in theatersa aroundthe Czech Republic and Germany. After a long and ongoing career in dance, he fulfilled a goal, long ago postponed, of gettinghis Bachelors (choreography) and Masters (dance methodology) degrees. He is now living in Budapest, Hungary where he is focusing his energies towards the completion of his first book entitled ‘The Alegado Movement Language – A Trajectory in Dance’. He continues to travel around the world teaching and choreographing.
