Biography & Artistic Direction

Artistic Leadership & Vision

Adria Ferrali is the Artistic Director, President, and Founder of the Cultural Association New Dance Drama. She is the visionary creator behind the DAP FESTIVAL — Danza in Arte a Pietrasanta, where she serves as Artistic Director and Producer. For a decade, she has promoted and created groundbreaking interdisciplinary productions that fuse contemporary dance, sculpture, visual arts, and music.

Recent Directorships & Global Artistic Directorships (2026)

Concorso Internazionale David di Michelangelo – Premio Danza Città di Firenze (2026): Nominated Artistic Director for the prestigious international competition held on May 9th–10th, 2026, at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy.
TROY-DAP International Dance Experience (USA): Appointed Associate Artistic Director for the TROY-DAP Intensive Dance Experience at Troy University (Alabama, USA). In this role, she pioneered a specialized academic format, bringing the interdisciplinary vision and curation of the DAP Festival directly into American university higher education.
International Endorsements & Cultural Diplomacy: These high-profile initiatives, alongside the DAP Festival, operate under prestigious international patronages, embassy endorsements, and institutional recognition, consolidating her role as a key figure in global cultural diplomacy and interdisciplinary arts management.

Artistic Heritage & Career

Her career spans continents and traditions, drawing from the rich legacies of modern and contemporary dance. She began her journey with the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Pearl Lang Dance Theater, where she embodied iconic solo roles from the Graham repertoire. Ferrali has been honored as best dancer and choreographer with the Nijinsky Award at the National Opera in Kyiv. She has also worked alongside legendary artists, serving as Yuriko’s assistant at the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam.

Academic Residencies, Restagings & Pedagogy

Ferrali has been a guest teacher and choreographer at the Royal Danish Ballet School in Copenhagen, taught at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and served on the faculty at the University College of Dance in Stockholm. In the U.S., she restaged Graham masterpieces such as "Diversion of Angels" at the Boston Conservatory and "Steps in the Street" at Skidmore College, with assistance from Martha Graham Resources. Additionally, she served as the resident choreographer and teacher at the Montgomery Ballet and taught at Alabama State University.

Ferrali has an international profile, having served as President of the Jury at the VII International Contest for Choreographers and Ballet Masters in Novosibirsk. She has also served as a guest choreographer and visiting professor at Kemerovo State University of Culture and Arts in Siberia. Her professorships in contemporary dance include positions at Balettakademien Göteborg Folkuniversitet, and she has worked extensively in cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Ravenna, Cremona, Milan, Bergamo, Florence, and Rome.

World Stages & Venues

Her choreographies have been showcased on some of the world's most prestigious stages, including the Royal Danish Theater, the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., the National Opera House in Kyiv, the Thalia Theater and Stora Teatern in Göteborg, the Davis Theater and the Museum of Modern Art in Montgomery, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro Greco di Roma, and festivals such as Estate Regina, La Versiliana and Pietrasanta in Concerto.

In 2013, Ferrali was appointed Director of the Modern Dance Department at Alabama River Region Ballet, and in 2016, she served as a Visiting Professor at Troy University in Alabama.

Ferrali’s signature legacy lies in DAP. Under her direction, she has commissioned and produced performances in collaboration with

Danish choreographer Sebastian Kloborg with Sculptor Jørgen Haugen Sørensen
American choreographer Kevin Stea with Sculptor Manolo Valdés
Brazilian choreographer Miriam Barbosa with Sculptor Pablo Atchugarry
Italian choreographer and dancer Tamara Fragale with Sculptor Fabio Viale
Taiwanese choreographer PeiJu Chien-Pott with Japanese Sculptor Kan Yasuda
Russian choreographer Kseniya Mikhaeva with Sculptor Giuseppe Veneziano
Chinese choreographer Chien-Ming Chang with Sculptor Stefano Bombardieri
Norwegian choreographer Thomas Johansen with Sculptor Flavio Lucchini
American choreographer Rena Butler with Sculptor Brice Esso

Her latest curatorial gestures include staging Martha Graham's “Ecstasy” and curating a lecture-demonstration at Susanna Orlando Art Gallery, and producing a “Madame Butterfly” reinterpretation by Taiwanese choreographer PeiJu Chien-Pott. Through DAP, Ferrali has established an avant-garde platform where visual and performing arts merge — connecting local heritage with international creativity in one of Tuscany’s most celebrated cultural landscapes.