Elisa Monte

Elisa Monte was born in 1946 in Brooklyn.

She began dancing in 1955 under the tutelage of Russian classical dancer Vladimir Dokoudovsky. She made her professional debut dancing with Agnes DeMille in the 1957 Broadway revival of Carousel. Later on, she performed as a guest dancer for various choreographers, including Mary Anthony and Pearl Lang, whose company she joined in 1968. In 1972 she performed with Lar Lubovitch and was also a member of Ballet Etudes and the Morse Donaldson Dance Company. In 1974 she joined the Martha Graham Dance Company and performed in many of its dances, including Seraphic Dialogue and Clytemnestra. In 1977, she was invited by Moses Pendleton, a founding member of Pilobolus Dance Theatre, to join the company for their 1977-78 season. With Pilobolus, she began choreographing for the first time, and created Molly’s Not Dead (1977). In 1979, she created the first choreography of her own, Treading, during a Graham workshop together with fellow Graham dancer David Brown, whom she later married. This dance was performed throughout New York to critical acclaim.

In 1981, Monte formed Elisa Monte Dance (EMD), and Brown became its artistic director. For her company, Monte created Pell Mell (1981) and Anima (1982). She also created Pigs and Fishes (1982) for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, subsequently also danced by Batsheva. This choreography contributed to Monte’s growing reputation as a choreographer. EMD was named Best Company at the International Dance Festival of Paris. Brown also began creating for the company, and in 1998 it was renamed Monte/Brown Dance. In 2002, the couple was divorced and the company was renamed EMD once more.
At the same time as working for EMD, Monte worked for many other troupes who danced her choreographies worldwide, including the Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Ballet Gulbenkian of Portugal, Teatro alla Scala Ballet, Philadanco, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theater, PACT Contemporary Dance Company of South Africa, and Batsheva. Batsheva danced her choreographies Dreamtime (1989) as well as the aforementioned Pigs and Fishes (1991).
Monte has recently announced that she would retire as director of EMD in 2016, and be succeeded by Tiffany Rea-Fisher.