Donii Angelica

About

Anjhelika Donii, born in 1985 in Chisinau, is a remarkable ballet master, pedagogue, and performer from the Republic of Moldova, with a career dedicated to contemporary dance and improvisation. She graduated from the Choreography Faculty of the Higher School of Culture in Saint Petersburg, accumulating a decade of experience as a theatrical choreographer at the Eugen Ionesco Theatre of the Absurd in Chisinau. Since the age of 14, she has been based in Moscow, where she became a pioneer of the contact improvisation technique, organizing the first regular jam sessions and the first International Festival of Contact Improvisation and Performance in the Russian capital. Her collaborations include renowned international masters such as Benno Vorham from Sweden, Esther Gall from Hungary, Regine Chopinot from France, Danny Lepkoff, Lisa Nelson, and Nancy Stark Smith from the USA, participating in creative workshops that enriched her artistic practice. Currently, she works as a leader, professor, and trainer at the Center for Contact Improvisation and Performance in Moscow, and near Kazan, she is developing a "House of Dance in Nature," a space dedicated to research, practice, and contact improvisation laboratories. Her contributions have promoted experimental dance in Russia, inspiring generations of artists through the sharing of her authentic experience. Although detailed information about her personal life remains discreet, Anghelica Donii defines the essence of her work through the philosophy "I don't teach contact. I share contact. Myself, my teachers, dance, tea." Her Moldovan roots and her journey in the Russian Federation position her as a hybrid figure in contemporary ballet, where improvisation becomes a profound dialogue with the body and nature, continuing to influence the dance scene beyond borders.