Mariangela Lopez is a Brooklyn-based choreographer and performer from Caracas, Venezuela. Since 2001, Mariangela has created six independent works. Her pieces have been presented in Venezuela, Mexico, France, Boston and multiple venues in New York City, including Williamsburg Art Nexus, Dixon Place, Danspace Project, Movement Research at the Judson Church, P.S 122, Dance Theater Workshop, Tisch School of the Arts and MonkeyTown. Her work is known for enabling the participation of performers from various disciplines and backgrounds to take part in her creative process. As a result, her experimental work offers an environment where everybody can have a sense of belonging.
In 2004, after the presentation of Wonders of Progess, she began to call her group Accidental Movement, hoping that this name would serve as a platform for the realization of her experimental works. In 2007, Mariangela presented her full-evening project Outmigration, a dinner-theater piece chosen by the New York Times for the “Urban Eye, The Best of New York Today-Weekend”. In 2010, the work “Accidental #5” was invited to be part of the Danspace Project Platform “Body Madness” curated by Artistic Director Judy Hussie-Taylor. Most recently, Mariangela collaborated as the choreographer for the “psycho-opera” Stop the Virgens by Yeah Yeah Yeahs' vocalist Karen O and designer-rocker KK Barrett, presented by the Creators Project and Saint Ann’s Warehouse in October 2011. The piece will be presented as part of the Vivid Festival in Australia at the Sydney Opera House in May 2012.
Mariangela has an extensive experience as a dance educator. Since 1999, she has taught in different settings, from colleges, public schools and dance schools to different communities in need such as organizations of women victims of domestic violence, youth at risk and people living with HIV and AIDS. Mariangela was the Associate Director of the Community Programs of Gina Gina Gibney Dance (2005-2009). Mariangela has taught at Movement Research, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Dance New Amsterdam and Harkness Center 92 Street Y, NYC. Currently, Mariangela is a faculty teacher at the Laban Institute of Movement Studies and is the Coordinator of the Adventures in Dance Program at the Ballet Hispanico School of Dance. Mariangela became a 2009-10 Movement Research Artist in Residency and is currently a Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) Artist In Residency (2011-13).
