Gustavo Ramírez Sansano (1978 San Fulgencio, Spain) has been Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater (2009-2013), and now he combines his work as a choreographer freelance with the direction of TITOYAYA, the company he founded on 2006 in Spain with Veronica Garcia Moscardo. Sansano has been the recipient of numerous awards for his choreography, including first prize at the Ricard Moragas Competition in Barcelona (1997), Prix Dom Perignon Choreographic Competition in Hamburg (2001), and Valencian performing arts awards for best dance show and choreographer (2005 and 2019). Gustavo was chosen by the magazine POR LA DANZA for its 15th anniversary as one of the ‘Fifteen Choreographers to Watch’(2004) Dance Magazine featured Luna Negra's Artistic Director, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, '25 to Watch’(2011), named a 'Chicagoan of the Year in Arts & Entertainment' by the Chicago Tribune (2012) and in June 2017 was chosen by the APDCV for its 30th anniversary as ‘Outstanding Valencian choreographer’.
He has been commissioned to create works for many Companies such as Alvin Ailey, Nederlands Dans Theater, Compania Nacional de Danza, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Luzerner tanz Theater, Introdans, Gibney Dance Company, Ballet BC, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Hispánico among others. As a dancer, Sansano was part of the most prestigious companies such as Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid/Victor Ullate, Nederlands Dans Theater II and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago doing some original works by Jacopo Godani, Hans Van Manen, Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Paul Lightfoot, Asun Noales, Victor Ullate and many more.
Also has created a few operas with Chicago Opera Theater (Andreas Mitisek), Opera Omaha and Opera Philadelphia (James Darrah), Bard SummerScape(James Darrah)
Along his time creating he has work with Luis Crespo as Set Design for most of his productions and also has collaborated with other artist such as David Delfin, Luis Miguel Cobo, Emilio Lavarias, Mark Eric Rodriguez, Angel Sanchez, Nicolas Fischtel, Bregje van Balen, Branimira Ivanova, Gelson Amaran to name a few.
He has been invited to teach and choreograph to numerous Schools , Universities and companies like Centro Coreográfico Gallego (Spain), Scottish Dance Theatre (Scotland), Conservatorio superior y professional de danza de Valencia (Spain), Springboard Danse Montréal (Montreal-Canada), The Juilliard School (New work City-USA), Escuela Municipal de Música y danza de Torrevieja(Spain), Institut del Teatre de Barcelona (Spain), the school of the Jacob's Pillow (Boston-USA), Daf Dance Arts Faculty (Rome- Italy) CalArts-California Institute of the Arts(Los Angeles-USA),Dansa per a tots (Elche -Spain), Butler University (Indianapolis, U.S.A.), Escuela Moderna de Música y Danza (Santiago-Chile), Ballet de Santiago (Santiago-Chile) ,Oriol Martorell barcelona, Copenhagen Contemporary Dance School, Dart Berlin , among other.
Photo by Hans Gerritsen