Studio Stories: Reminiscing Twin Cities Dance with Susana Di Palma Season 3 Episode 41

Having studied Spanish dance and flamenco since childhood,
Susana di Palma continued her apprenticeship with maestros such
as Ciro, Manolo Marin, Manolete, Carmen Mora and Merche
Esmeralda.   She performed throughout Spain in
tablaos and with companies such as La Singla.  In
1985 she founded Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theater in
Minneapolis.  Its mission has been to create innovative
theater works that expand on traditional flamenco to reflect on
controversial contemporary issues. 


Di Palma’s full length theater-flamenco ballets
include:  Flor, Garden of
Names, Gernika , Sadja ,
First, I Dream,  La Virtud
Negra, Encuentros, Tales of the Black
Legend, Zorro in the Land of the Yellow-Breasted
Woodpecker, Convivir, Los
Caprichos, Garden of Names among others. Her
works have been presented at New York’s Joyce Theater, Miami’s
Florida Dance Festival, St. Paul’s O’Shaughnessy Theater’s “Women
of Substance Series,” and the Walker Art Center among other
venues.   She choreographed Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” for the
Guthrie Theater and Bethany Lutheran College.  In 2012, she
was curator for the Walker Art Center’s “Choreographers’
Evening”.  In 2016, she choreographed the full-length
work Lorca’s Women which was presented at The
Cowles Theater.  That work won the Sage Award for Most
Outstanding Choreography and was chosen as one of top 10
performances of the year by the StarTribune.


In 2017, she was invited to choreograph PiCa,
awork on Picasso for the New York company, Flamenco
Vivo.  That work was presented at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music and is part of the company’s touring repertoire. 


In 2017, di Palma received a McKnight Fellowship for
Choreography which included a Artist Residency at MANCC – Maggie
Allesee National Center for Choreography. During that residency,
she created Casita, a work on homeless women which
was presented at The Lab Theater in 2019 and is scheduled to tour
various Minnesota community theaters as part of the Minnesota
State Arts Board Touring Grant.  Her puppet theater work for
children Tra Ti Ti Tran Tran Toro on immigration
has toured over 50 communities and is also scheduled to be part
of the 2021 MSAB Touring Program.  Di Palma’s 2020 pandemic
response video work Decameron 20:20 included a cast
of international flamenco artists and received recognition as one
of the noteworthy works of 2020 by the StarTribune. 


A devoted teacher, di Palma has been part of the Cowles
Center’s Distant Learning Program since its’ beginning and
continues as one of their Teaching Artists.   She taught at
the University of Minnesota Dance Department for over 25
years.  She continues teaching at the Zorongo School where
she directs and guides the Majas, apprentice
program.


Her work has been honored with grants from the McKnight
Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board and a MRAC Next Step Grant
among others.