Silvana Cardell, a dancer, choreographer, and educator, has been awarded a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography and a 2025 Leeway Transformation Award.  Born Argentina and living in the US since 2002, she has directed dance companies and developed programs in both countries. Cardell’s performances blend dance, theater, and visual arts, and draw inspiration from her personal experiences and cultural background. Her work often addresses social issues and challenges dominant cultural narratives.

Cardell’s performances have been showcased nationally and internationally in major venues and festivals since the late-90s. Her projects have received significant funding from prominent organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Pew Center for the Arts & Heritage, and the New England Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and Mid Atlantic Foundation of the Arts. She is also committed to advancing dance in her communities, having founded several organizations, including EDA Escuela de Danza del Abasto, a three-year professional dance training program sponsored by Secretaria de Cultura de la Nacion in Argentina, and Sala Ana Itelman, a performance space sponsored by the Instituto Nacional del Teatro in Buenos Aires, in Philadelphia she has  created several dance spaces, such as Mt Vernon Dance Space, Philly Pard, Cardell Dance Studio, Cardell Dance Theater and now leads Cardell Dance Projects, an exempt nonprofit organization under section 501(c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

In Philadelphia, Cardell has collaborated extensively with Manfred Fishbeck at Group Motion Dance Company,   Scrap Performance, Merian Soto, and theater director Blanka Zizka. 

Cardell holds a BFa from The University of the Arts, where she received the President Award in 1990 and a MFA from Temple University where she was a University Fellow 2002-2025. 

Since 2009 to 2024, she has served as an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Dance at Georgian Court University.