“When you dance, you have to be like an empty bamboo inside, quiet and still.” –Robert Cohan, Artistic Director of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, as told to Franca Telesio

Dancer/Choreographer/Master Teacher/Caregiver Franca Telesio’s education is extensive and includes years with Arts Educational Trust in England, the Royal Academy of Dance, certification in the Cecchetti method, and experience with the entire Martha Graham Dance Company in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Originally from Bolzano, Italy, Telesio now makes her home in Aurora, Colorado, and is a sought-after instructor on the Front Range.

Asked to share something particularly exciting or challenging concerning her piece for Presenting Denver’s Wine & Works-in-Progress Feedback Session, the remarkable Telesio replied, “Overcoming a broken back, three knee replacement surgeries, five car accidents, and a hit on the head that pole-axed me into unconsciousness. Hallelujah! I overcame ALL this at 74 years old!”

Thirty-six years of study with a Japanese Zen Buddhist Master have granted Franca Telesio invaluable insight. The resulting awareness of her “‘True Self’ (deeper spiritual self) permeates almost all [her] daily actions now.” Her choreography is no exception. Telesio says, “almost all of my choreography is inspired by finding my ‘True Self’.” She chose the music for her piece because it spoke to her soul. The work is about discovery and “learning how to let go of the deep fears inside us.”

Don’t miss your chance to share in Telesio’s journey during the Wine & Works-in-Progress Feedback Session at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Conservatory Theater at the Robert and Judi Newman Center for Theatre Education on March 8, 2019.

Jane E. Werle: As an infant Jane E. Werle, unable to protest, was removed from Colorado by her well-meaning parents. In 2004 she was able to rectify this error when she relocated from Massachusetts to Boulder for graduate school. One M.F.A. and a husband later, Jane works to further the arts in the Front Range as a writer/editor and dance enthusiast (no-shame, first-on-the-floor amateur– despite some training– dancer). Jane is also a longtime nanny and a visual artist, taking one of these very seriously and the other as a growth experience. Every child she’s cared for has experienced some form of the SDP: Spontaneous Dance Party.