Mauro De Candia

Born in 1981, Mauro de Candia began his dance studies at the age of nine in Barletta, his hometown. In 1991, in Verona, he was noticed by Marika Besobrasova, director of the Académie de danse classique Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo, who offered him the opportunity to come to her school every summer. After briefly studying at the Scuola di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Béjart's Atelier Rudra in Lausanne, he joined the Académie permanently in August 1998 thanks to the John Gilpin scholarship awarded to him by Princess Antoinette.

After completing his professional training, in August 2001 he moved to Germany, where he danced for five seasons with the Hanover Opera Ballet under the direction of Stephan Thoss. During his career as a dancer, Mauro de Candia had the opportunity to dance in works by George Balanchine, Maurice Béjart, Stephan Thoss, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylián, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Marco Goecke.

Italian born, De Candia was attracted to choreography from a very young age. After his first trials in Monte Carlo and several creations in Hanover, he did concentrate full-time on that since 2008, choreographing for Introdans, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Washington Ballet, Maggio Danza di Firenze, Staatsballett Berlin, among others.

He also has been commissioned and produced by international festivals such as La Biennale Danza in Venice, Dance Open in St. Petersburg or the Maracaibo Dance Festival in Venezuela.

From August 2012 until july 2021, Mauro de Candia was the artistic director and main choreographer of the Dance Company Theater Osnabrück in Germany. Flanked by dramaturg and manager Patricia Stöckemann, in just a few seasons he positioned the ballet company among the leading names on the German and international scene. In July 2021, after nine successful seasons at the helm of the ensemble, he decided to leave the direction of the ensemble by personal choice to devote himself to new artistic challenges.

Although he has lived abroad for years, de Candia has always kept a strong connection to his homeland. In Barletta, in 1997 he founded Arte&BallettO, a non-profit organization from where during the years have florished projects such as the ApuliArteFestival, the International Award ApuliArte, the educational dance programme FormAzione Tersicore and his own dance company Pneuma Dance Theater.

During his career de Candia has received various prizes, including the Premio Positano per la Danza and the Premio Giuliana Penzi per la Danza. His full-length commission Angelika, for the Slovak National Ballet, won the 2015 Minister of Culture Award and was broadcast by Slovak National Television.  He has been named Up and Coming European Choreographer by Dance for You magazine (2007), Choreographer of the Year by magazine Tanznetz (2015, 2017) and mentioned as one of the 30 artists with best visibility on an international level by TANZ (2017). In 2009, he was presented with a silver medal from the Italian government.

Mauro de Candia is also regulary invited as an educator and choregrapher by European dance insitutions like the Staatsballett School Berlin or the English National Ballet School. After his creation “Claveles Negros” (2019), this new commission for the students of the Royal Ballet School of Flanders marks his second return to Antwerp.