Cardell Dance Theater 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, renamed Cardell Dance Theater performed 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 La MaMa Theater Club in New York City and Taller Puertorriqueño. 

Supported by a New England Foundation for the Arts – National Dance Project touring grant, Cardell Dance Theater performed at Black Mountain Museum & Arts Center, North Carolina, the Ferst Center in Atlanta, the Dance Complex in Massachusetts, URBN Center Westphal College Black Box Theater at Drexel University and Palacio de Las Bellas Artes at Festival de Danza Contemporanea EDANCO in the Dominican Republic, supported by The Mid Atlantic Foundation.

Cardell Dance Theater projects have received funding from the Swarthmore College Project, The University of the Arts, Georgian Court University Summer Research Grant, The Pew Center for the Arts & Heritage Project grant, Mid Atlantic Foundation for Arts, and New England Foundation for the Arts, National Dance Project, and NEFA Finalist Award and National Endowment for Arts. 

The company also receives partial support from The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, a multi-year grant, City of Philadelphia’s Art in Action Initiative managed by the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. In 2022 Silvana Cardell received a John Guggenheim Fellow in Choreography.