Val Caniparoli

Val Caniparoli is an American ballet dancer and international choreographer.

His work includes more than 100 productions for ballet, opera, and theater for over 50 companies, and his career as a choreographer progressed globally even as he continued his professional dance career with the San Francisco Ballet.

He joined the San Francisco Ballet as a dancer in 1973.

Caniparoli performed with San Francisco Opera Ballet, and in 1973, just a year and a half into his studies, he was offered a contract with San Francisco Ballet.

In his debut season, he worked under Co-Artistic Directors Lew Christensen and Michael Smuin, and later, under Helgi Tomasson.

Caniparoli became interested in choreography when he attended a choreography workshop offered by the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

After that work, his choreography career expanded and he was appointed resident choreographer for the San Francisco Ballet in the mid-1980s.

In 1984, Caniparoli co-founded a choreographic collective called OMO in San Francisco, and a documentary about OMO's founding was broadcast that year on PBS.

He was appointed to the position of principal character dancer with the San Francisco Ballet by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson in 1987.

Caniparoli was born in Renton, Washington, to Francisco Caniparoli, a clothing manufacturer, and Leonora (Marconi) Caniparoli, who worked at Boeing.

He attended Washington State University (WSU), where he studied music and theater.

When the First Chamber Dance Company was touring Eastern Washington, they did performances at WSU, and offered workshops in ballet.

Caniparoli attended one and was told he had talent, and should audition at the San Francisco Ballet School.

Thereafter he decided to pursue a career in ballet, and left WSU.

He received a scholarship from the Ford Foundation that enabled him to attend the San Francisco Ballet School.

Caniparoli was resident choreographer for Ballet West from 1993 to 1997, and for Tulsa Ballet from 2001 to 2006.

He continues to create works for San Francisco Ballet.

In 1994, he created his first full-length ballet entitled Lady of the Camellias, based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas fils, and with a score by Frédéric Chopin.

Lady of the Camellias became one of Caniparoli's most popular works, and a part of the repertoire of several ballet companies, including Ballet West, Ballet Florida, Boston Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

In 1995, Caniparoli choreographed a new work entitled Lambarena, set to a musical blend of J.S. Bach with Traditional African music composed by Pierre Akendengue and Hughes de Courson.

Lambarena has become another of Caniparoli's most popular creations, a blend of classical ballet and African dance.

This ballet has been performed more than 20 companies, including Atlanta Ballet, Boston Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and State Ballet of South Africa.

In 2002, Caniparoli was invited to choreograph a pas de deux to be performed by Evelyn Hart and Rex Harrington for Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate her Golden Jubilee visit to Canada.

In May 2010, San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) premiered Tosca Cafe, a theater/dance work co-created and co-directed by Caniparoli and A.C.T.'s Carey Perloff; Caniparoli also did the choreography.

"'Tosca Cafe"', which started as The Tosca Project, chronicles a wide cast of characters who inhabit Tosca, a bar in the North Beach section of San Francisco in the same location for decades.

Caniparoli and Perloff saw this work as a unique opportunity for collaboration between dancers and actors.

Since its 2010 premiere in San Francisco, Tosca Cafe has been performed internationally.

While growing up in Renton, Washington, Caniparoli studied music for 13 years.

His study included private lessons on alto saxophone, clarinet, and flute.

He credits his study of music with nurturing his eclectic interest in world music and composers, and varied genres.

He has become well known for his use of widely diverse music as a principal foundation for his choreographic work.

He was also influenced by the dancing of film stars Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.

Caniparoli's work has been described as "rooted in classicism but influenced by all forms of movement: modern dance, ethnic dance, social dancing, even ice skating."

Caniparoli lives in San Francisco, California.

In 2015, co-choreographed with Helgi Tomasson, a commercial for the 50th Anniversary Super Bowl with dancers from San Francisco Ballet.

Choreography from Lambarena featured on Sesame Street with dancers Lorena Feijoo and Lorna Feijoo.

Caniparoli appeared on PBS in The San Francisco Ballet in Cinderella Dance in America (the Great Performances Series) in the role of Cinderella's father.

In addition, he appeared in three television specials: