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Banff Centre hires new dance director

“Banff Centre is excited to witness the creativity that Alejandro will bring to its dance programs in the coming years and thrilled to embrace to wealth of experience and knowledge that Alejandro brings to the team,” said Janice Price, president and CEO of the Banff Centre.
0310 Alejandro Ronceira
The Banff Centre has announced Alejandro Ronceira as its new dance program director, bringing impressive Canadian and international experience as an artistic director, choreographer, dramaturge, educator and producer. PHOTO COURTESY OF RITA TAYLOR/BANFF CENTRE

BANFF – The Banff Centre has announced Alejandro Ronceira as its new dance program director, bringing impressive Canadian and international experience as an artistic director, choreographer, dramaturge, educator and producer.

Ronceira’s dance roots began in Bogota, Colombia, in classical ballet and modern dance.

Very early as a choreographer, he began to draw on his mixed Indigenous and Spanish ancestry to develop his dance practice, experimenting with traditional and contemporary approaches to form.

“Banff Centre is excited to witness the creativity that Alejandro will bring to its dance programs in the coming years and thrilled to embrace to the wealth of experience and knowledge that Alejandro brings to the team,” said Janice Price, president and CEO of the Banff Centre in a press release.

Taking on this role, Ronceira is rekindling a long relationship with Banff Centre that began in 1996 as co-founder and head of the Aboriginal Dance Program, which was the first International, Indigenous dance program in North America, where he developed an annual curriculum for emerging and professional dancers, supervised programs, conducted senior choreography and self-scripting workshops, and collaborated with the theatre department, faculty teachers and guest artists.

Ronceria was co-creator, co-director, and choreographer for Banff Centre productions such as Dances Around Fire in 1998, Dances for a New Century in 1999, and ‘Bones’ in 2000.

He returned to the Banff Centre in 2019 and developed and directed the Intercultural Indigenous Choreographers Creation Lab, an intensive creation lab for choreographers. Recently, he was also on the panel of adjudicators for the 2021 Banff Centre Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award.

Ronceria said Banff has always felt like a second home.

“It was truly memorable to lead the first Indigenous dance program in North America established at Banff, which helped to develop the careers of many talented dance artists making a difference today,” he said in a press release. “I am honoured to be directing dance training programs at Banff Centre.”

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