Armando Duarte, artistic director and choreographer

Armando Duarte (Professor of Dance at The University of Iowa), a native Brazilian, holds a BS degree in Physical Education from University of São Paulo and an MFA degree in Choreography and Performance from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. He has toured the world extensively as a founding member of the internationally known Cisne Negro (Black Swan) Dance Company from São Paulo, where he worked for 14 years. Early in his career he received a Best New Choreographer award from the São Paulo Association of Arts Reviewers, and in 1989, he was one of the guest choreographers in the International Choreographer Workshop at the American Dance Festival. Since coming to the UofI in 1993, he has choreographed 40 original dance pieces and has restaged several works from his own repertory in which he continues to perform.

He has also been awarded with several awards, including two Iowa Old Gold Summer Fellowships (creation of Floresta - 1996 & 1997), a grant from the Support Program for Arts and Humanities from the University of Iowa (National Passion - 1998), and three grants from the Arts and Humanities Initiative Program (AHI) - The University of Iowa (a collaborative project -The Dance and Music of the Americas - 2000; the Duarte Dance Works Project 2003 – 2004 and the Conference grant on behalf of the department of Dance for the American College Dance Festival 2006).
Mr. Duarte has directed two National Choreography Conferences for RDA and is currently one of its National Adjudicators. He has directed the RDA’s Pacific Region Festival (2000), the Southwest Region Festival (2001) and the Southeast Region Festival (2004).

His choreography has been commissioned by several repertory and regional dance companies and has been performed in Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Switzerland and the US. Most recently his international guest appearances included visits to Milan, Udine, Geneva, Lausanne, Paris, Natal and São Paulo. In the US he has worked with the Brigham Young University, Santa Cruz Ballet Theater, Crockett-Deane Ballet, Columbia Dance Ensemble in Portland, Clear Lake Metropolitan Ballet, Sandra Organ Dance Company, Victoria Ballet, South Atlanta Ballet and the internationally known Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico.

The Summer of 2006 marks Mr. Duarte’s Fifth Season of Duarte Dance Works, a contemporary dance company. During the past five years, the company has performed annually in Iowa City and in Houston, Louisville, Davenport and Grand Island, NE. In addition to develop the DDW Project, is Mr. Duarte intent to continue teaching and choreographing for professional and regional companies, Universities and dance schools throughout the United States and abroad. With his artistry and cultural background, he hopes to contribute for the education of dance students of all ages.