"The range and depth of emotion that Campanella draws out of his dancers shows that he is as fine director as he is a choreographer..."

(The Globe and Mail)

 

Born and raised in Rome, Roberto Campanella trained at the Scuola Italiana di Danza Contemporanea. In 1985 Campanella joined the Compagnia Italiana di Danza Contemporanea and became a principal dancer. Shortly after, he began to dance in various TV productions in Italy and Spain. Roberto later joined the prestigious Aterballetto and in 1993 he joined The National Ballet of Canada where he was soon promoted to Soloist and was cast in many classical and contemporary roles.

 

Campanella made his choreographic debut at the National Ballet's 1995 Choreographic Workshop, which received critical acclaim: "The fascinating, enigmatic work shows a brilliant choreographer in the making" (Dance Magazine) Although Campanella choreographs predominantly for ProArteDanza, he also choreographs a wide variety of commissioned works for galas abroad and companies such as: Collaborations, L'Astragale, Ballet Jorgen, Echine-do, Arts Umbrella and Corpus. Campanella is also a long-time collaborator of four-time world champion figure skater Kurt Browning and has choreographed six pieces which have been featured in Stars on Ice and television specials. The Nine Sentiments (co-choreographed with Robert Glumbek) was filmed for CBC's Opening Night, directed by former National Ballet of Canada's prima ballerina Veronica Tennant.

 

Upon retiring from the National Ballet in 1996, Roberto graduated from the National Ballet School's teacher training program with distinction. He is now a sought-after guest teacher for companies such as The National Ballet of Canada and Stuttgart Ballet as well as companies in Italy, Korea and Japan.

 

Campanella appeared as the lead in Mose Mossanen's films Time to Time and The Year of the Lion, for which he was nominated for the Gemini Award as Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program.

 

In 2001, Roberto was nominated for the Bonnie Bird Choreography Award in London.

Upon graduation from Bytom State Ballet School in Poland, Robert Glumbek joined The Great Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Warsaw as a soloist where he worked with choreographers such as John Neumeier, Maurice Bejart, Hans Van Manen, John Butler, and Constantine Siergiejew. In 1987, Glumbek came to Canada and worked for a variety of corps including Theatre Ballet of Canada in Ottawa with Larry Gradus; the Judith Marcuse Company in Vancouver; Myth Productions with Learie Nichols before settling in 1990 with Desrosiers Dance Theatre, where he danced for ten years and was instrumental in the creation of many roles. Glumbek joined National Theatre Mannheim in 2002 as dancer and ballet master and returned to Canada in 2004 to work as an independent artist and choreographer.

 

Mr. Glumbek has worked with choreographers: Kevin O’Day, Bill James, Peter Chin, Michael Downing (Dancefront), Dominique Dumais, Christopher House, Serge Bennathan, Holly Small, Learie McNicolls, and Tedd Robinson.

 

Robert’s first choreographic project was an adaptation by Mika Vatari based on the Pharo Ahknaton for Finland’s 20th anniversary celebration of renowned actor Hannu Huska. His first coupling as co-choreographer with Roberto Campanella includes: Nothing Twice, inspired by poet Nobel winner Szymborska and the first incarnation of Nine Sentiments, poetry provided and read by Michael Ondaatje. This piece was the catalyst for forming ProArteDanza. Robert became Artistic Associate of ProArteDanza in 2004.

 

Further choreography includes, for Princess Productions in 2004, Contemplation of Betrayal, composed by Rick Hyslop and a duet with Artistic Director Yvonne Ng entitled, Tell Began. In 2005, La Maison de la Culture in Trois Rivieres, Quebec devoted a full evening to Glumbek’s work. Robert then created two pieces for Mannheim Ballet, Germany, Subsistence (2005) and Still (2006). ProArteDanza subsequently performed both works. Most recently Glumbek created Alpha Phemale in 2006 for Ryerson University’s dance department. June 2007, Fragmented Memories for Toronto Dance Theater; September 2007, Displacement for Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, composer Christos Hatzis; Dis/Locate for ProArteDanza’s 2007 season at Premiere Dance Theatre, Harbourfront; February 2008 premiere of Hidden Places for National Theatre Mannheim.

 

A popular guest-teacher, Glumbek has always found time to teach internationally and locally.