I came to know Daniela at several Study Group on Ethnochoreology meetings held throughout Europe every two years. These meetings bringing together a group of scholars, artists, practitioners concerned with the study of, and very active participation in, all forms of Folk Dance. These dances are, in turn, usually a very integral part of contemporary culture – a very different positioning than here in most of the US. I noted, right from the beginning, Daniela as a very thoughtful and active participant, whose papers were very well received. We became friends and I was very pleased to receive a visit from her in New York in 2013. I had recently moved back to NYC after more than 50 years of living in Southern California – many of those years spent Chairing the Dept. of Dance at UCLA while creating, and then giving leadership to, the Dance Ethnology program there.
Not only did we talk at some length about her current interest and work which I continued to find very exciting but I was very pleased to be invited to visit and witness a presentation and class at the Gallatin School, New York University. I was quite overwhelmed by what I saw – Daniela is a master teacher and the students responded with enormous focus and enthusiasm – I was so impressed I wrote UCLA saying this was a young teacher I felt that they should bring into the Department – unfortunately for UCLA they had no openings at that time. (…) I think you will find yourselves very, very happy with Daniela’s presence and contribution to Critical Dance Studies.
Allegra Snyder
Professor Emerita of Dance and Dance Ethnology, UCLA
Honorary Member, Board of Directors, Buckminster Fuller Institute
