About Cardell Dance Theater

Cardell Dance Theater is a professional ensemble that gathers artists to create innovative and provocative dance performances. 

The company was founded as S. Cardell Danza in 1992 in Buenos Aires, based at Sala Ana Itelman and performing in major dance festivals sponsored by Red Latinoamericana de Productores de Danza, Fundacion Antorchas, Instituto Nacional del Teatro and Secretaria de Cultura de la Nacion, among others.  Relocated to Philadelphia in 2009 and renamed as Cardell Dance Theater, the company presented work at the H. Prince Theater, the Annenberg Center of the Performing Arts, The Painted Bride, The Wilma Theater, Christ Church Neighborhood Theater, The Arts Bank, the CEC Theater,  Georgian Court University, Swarthmore College, Mt Vernon Dance Space, Falls Bridge -Philly PARD, New Dance House, New Festival, SDHS at The University of the Arts, The Ice Box at the Crane Building, and at La MaMa in New York City.

Supported by a NEFA – National Dance Project touring grant, Cardell Dance Theater is touring, starting at Black Mountain Museum in North Carolina, then continuing on to the Ferst Center in Atlanta, and the Dance Complex in Massachusetts and at EDANCO, the Dominican Republic, supported by The Mid Atlantic Foundation.

Recently the company received The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, a multiyear grant.

About Silvana Cardell

Silvana Cardell is a Philadelphia-based award-winning choreographer, dancer, and educator. She is the Artistic Director at Cardell Dance Theater and the Director of the Dance Program at Georgian Court University. Prior to working at GCU, she worked as faculty for the School of Dance at University of the Arts.

Ms. Cardell holds a BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts and an MFA in Choreography from Temple University. She danced for the Adriana Coll Dance Company (1983-1986) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cardell served as the Director of Armar Danza Teatro (1992-1996) in Buenos Aires. For the next several years she directed her own dance company S. Cardell Danza and EDA Escuela de Danza del Abasto, sponsored by Secretaria de Cultura de la Nacion. Cardell received the most prestigious choreography award in Latin America from Fundacion Antorchas. Cardell was a founding member of CoCoA-Datei, a nonprofit organization devoted to developing dance in Argentina. She and her husband, architect Pablo Meninato, created the Sala Ana Itelman, a performance space that showcased mainstream and avant-grade national and international artists, sponsored by Instituto Nacional del Teatro and Secretaria de Cultura de la Nacion. She later became a dancer, choreographer, and artistic co-director at Group Motion Dance Company (2005-2007) in Philadelphia. She founded Cardell Dance Theater in 2002 in Philadelphia.

Ms. Cardell has been invited to teach at major dance and theater festivals throughout Latin America, and her choreography has been awarded, sponsored, and commissioned internationally by several organizations, including Antorchas Foundation, Instituto Nacional de Teatro, Secretaria de Cultura de la Ciudad, Red Latinoamericana de Productores de Danza y Teatro, Teatro Gral San Martin, Presidente Alvear, and Teatro de las Provincias. In the United States, her work has been presented by Group Motion, the American Dance College Festival, University of the Arts, Swarthmore College, Harold Prince Theater at the Annenberg Center of the Performing Arts, Georgian Court University, Mt. Vernon Dance Space, Falls Bridge, New Festival’s Dance House, New Festival, and Christ Church Neighborhood House.