ABSTRACT
Born in Argentina, Daniele was enrolled in the Teatro Colon in Buenos
Aires at age seven at the suggestion of a doctor who believed the strenuous ballet work would help correct a malformation in the arch of her feet. The suggestion led to a career. She eventually moved to
Paris where she continued to study and perform the ballet’s traditional repertory but found herself unfulfilled: “There was not enough plot, there was not enough acting.” Then fate intervened when she attended
a performance of the European touring production of West Side Story (1957). “I realized, ‘Oh my God, this is what I want to do! I want to be able to tell a story through dance. I want to be like these people.’ But
I didn’t know the language-the jazz language. So, I came to New York to study.” Within a month she had landed a role dancing on Broadway. Working as a choreographer, let alone a director, was far from a goal
early in her career, but as she began to assist Bennett in his work, she realized she was much more interested in “using the creative mind, as opposed to using just the performing side. Bennett and Fosse…were
very encouraging. They thought that I had the creativity for it, so they not only inspired me, but they sort of pushed me towards trying it. You always have to have that person who says, ‘You can do it!’”
