Manuel Ronda
Manuel Ronda was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1977.
He studied Industrial Design at the University of Architecture of Genoa and later pursued modern dance and theatre at the Amsterdam University of the Arts in 1999. As an actor, he became involved with the children's theatre group "Teatro del Piccione" in Genoa, where he performed in productions such as BFG, Chisciotte, and I Eat the Moon. He additionally worked with Lindsay Kemp in Rome.
In 2000, Manuel met André Gingras in Amsterdam, which led to the creation of his dance solo titled CYP17. This solo piece was performed for a decade at a wide range of venues worldwide, including the Venice Dance Biennale, the Sydney Opera House, and The Hague / Amsterdam's “Lindenmayer System”. He then joined Charleroi / Danses Plan-K / Frederic Flamand and appeared in Zeropoint with Angelique Wilkie.
In 2005, Manuel joined UltimaVez / Wim Vandekeybus, participating in and touring the creations Puur, Spiegel, Menske, Talk to the Demon, as well as taking part in the feature film HereAfter, based in Brussels. As a playwright, he assisted choreographer / director Elena Fokina with productions like Pristan in Mexico, and Bielovodie and Between Sky and Earth in Moscow. He also worked with Klaus Jurgens in Asa Nisi Masa and collaborated with Kenneth Flak on the creation of 2Halves at The Hague / CaDance Festival.
In 2012, Manuel began collaborating with RootLessRoot / Linda Kapetanea & Jozef Fruček, participating in productions such as Kireru, Europium, and When the Dogs Assailed Their Masters in Athens. He made his acting debut in 2013 in German Jauregui's Confession in Zurich. In 2015, he took part in Tornar, a creation made with and for children by Seppe Bayens in Brussels.
During the 2017-2018 season, Manuel played a vital role in the restaging of Puur, both performing in the piece and assisting Wim Vandekeybus for the Swedish Royal Ballet at the Stockholm Opera. In 2018, he participated in Last Meal Café, an art exhibition curated by Tasya Krougovykh of Pussy Riot, held in Moscow and Space W139 in Amsterdam. Additionally, he has been teaching contemporary dance and theatre workshops internationally while creating his own production works.
Manuel currently resides in Brussels.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Manuel has extensive experience as a teacher, regularly conducting contemporary dance and theatre workshops for organisations such as the Cullberg Ballet, the Swedish Royal Ballet and the DansCentrum in Stockholm, Norrdans in Sweden, the Xie Xin Dance Company in Shanghai, the Ballet de Marseille led by Frederic Flamand, and Dance Works Rotterdam with André Gingras. He has also been a regular teacher at the SEAD experimental dance school in Salzburg and in Amsterdam, where he taught at Theaterschool and the HJF. He has shared his expertise at the TanzHaus in Zurich and conducted workshops for the Kalamata Dance Festival, collaborating with Jozef Fruček and Linda Kapetanea of RootlessRoot - Fighting Monkey, as well as for International Workshops across the globe.