Stephen Petronio

Stephen Petronio is an American choreographer, dancer, and the artistic director of New York City-based Stephen Petronio Company.

Stephen Petronio was born in Newark, New Jersey, on March 20, 1956. He grew up in Nutley, New Jersey and received a B.A. degree from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he began dancing in 1974. Prior to pursuing a career in dance, Petronio studied pre-medicine before being inspired by the dancing of Rudolf Nureyev and Steve Paxton, with whom he studied contact improvisation. Petronio became the first male dancer of the Trisha Brown Company (1979 to 1986), and founded Stephen Petronio Company in 1984. He has gone on to build a unique and powerful language of movement in a career that spans over 25 years. Stephen Petronio Company has toured extensively across the United States and to 26 other countries throughout the world, with over 35 New York City engagements including 15 seasons at The Joyce Theater.

Petronio has worked with songwriters, musicians, and composers, including Rufus Wainwright (Bud, 2005, Bud Suite, 2006, and BLOOM, 2006), Laurie Anderson (City of Twist, 2002), Lou Reed (The Island of Misfit Toys, 2004), Michael Nyman (Strange Attractors, 1999), James Lavelle (Strange Attractors II, 2000), Wire (MiddleSexGorge, 1990), Diamanda Galás (#4, 1997), Sheila Chandra (Not Garden, 1999), Lenny Pickett (#3, 1986), Nick Cave (Underland, 2003), Fischerspooner (Beauty and the Brut, 2008), Jonny Greenwood (Ghostown, 2010), Ryan Lott (Tragic/Love,2009 and Singing Light, 2010), Nico Muhly (I Drink the Air Before Me, 2009), David Linton (numerous works, 1986–2001), Yoko Ono, his cousin Clams Casino (Locomotor, 2014) and the Beastie Boys.Stephen Petronio Company Repertory

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