Elisa Monte Dance Includes UB Graduate Joe Celej

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Joseph Celej, a UB dance program alumnus and native of Buffalo, has recently become part of Elisa Monte Dance, in residency in Buffalo from March 6-24. The residency will culminate in a performance to be held at 8 p.m. on March 24 in the Mainstage Theatre, located in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

The dance troupe will be in residency in Buffalo through March 24, giving master classes and lecture-demonstrations to UB dance students and area schools, including Buffalo Visual and Performing Arts High School, Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School, Tonawanda Senior High School, Tapestry Charter School and Buffalo School 45. These classes and performances are provided by the center at no cost to the schools.

In February, dancer and choreographer Celej joined Elisa Monte Dance. A Buffalo native and a 2001 graduate of the UB Department of Theatre & Dance, upon graduation with a BFA in dance performance, he became a member of the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company. With the Met, Celej has performed at Jazz Dance World Congress, the Pink Ribbons Project and the Illuminations Project for World AIDS Day. His choreography can be seen at the Met and their youth company, the Met Too. He was commissioned to choreograph for Levi Strauss & Co. and part of Pink! The Musical, a Pink Ribbons Project production.

Celej has studied in a variety of dance forms from master teachers in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, including scholarships to Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and The Performing Arts Center in LA. He entered UB as a part of the Advanced College Credit Program while still a senior in high school and was accepted into the Performing and Creative Arts Honors Program. He was an active member of Zodiaque Dance Company for four years and received the 2001 Distinguished Senior of Theatre and Dance Award. While at UB, Celej choreographed for the Zodiaque Studio Company, Dancers' Workshop, and Young Choreographers' Showcase. A section of his work entitled /lev/ was featured in the American College Dance Festival. He has performed in Buffalo City Ballet's Nutcracker and Neglia Ballet Artists' Romeo and Juliet, and has taught dance throughout the Buffalo and Houston areas.

More information on Elisa Monte Dance may be found at: http://www.elisamontedance.org.