Donatella Greco is the founder of her own dance school called Donatella's Contemporary School of Dance. She is a professional performer , choreographer and dance teacher .
She studied level 2 BTEC Performing Arts at Bedford college and received a high awarded diploma and progressed into level 3 BTEC performing arts 'Dance' that focused on Jazz, Tap, Ballet and Contemporary dance . Once again Donatella was awarded with another high marked diploma which entitled her to proceed to University .She began University in 2014 and graduated in 2017 with an undergraduate degree in Dance and Professional Pratice .Donatella continued her studies by doing a masters degree in Dance Performance and Choreography and graduated in 2018 . Over the four years at university the curriculum included Contact, Improvisation, Ballet and Released-based Contemporary. She developed her Choreographic skills, technique and dance abilities and is now in full-time work as a professional dance artist.
Professional Dance Teacher
Donatella's Artistic style of dance is Contemporary, Contact Improvisation, Hip-Hop and Bollywood dance . Donatella has been teaching Bollywood through 2017-2018 at the University of Bedfordshire as part of Dance society with the Responsibility of delivering classes and choreographing pieces for competitions that were held in Loughborough University and Nottingham University. She is currently a guest dance lecture teaching Contemporary , Hip-Hop and Contact Improvisation to GCSE, BTEC and degree level students at Bedford College, Goldington Academy, University of Bedfordshire , Bedford Girls School and Chalk hills Academy.
Choreographer
Donatella's experience in dance lead to being commissioned by the University of Bedfordshire and local educational establishments to create work with young children and adults to present in regional platforms such as U.Dance and Jumpstart.
Professional performer
One of Donatella's recent performance's was in a piece called WARRIORS in Milton Keynes. This was a big project to celebrate the Women's euros Cup 2022. This was a collaboration between MOTUS DANCE and the Alina Orchestra. Donatella was also recently a supporting artist in Ed Sheeran’s 2025 music video Azizam, an experience she thoroughly enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI9ZpIKgyf0
In May 2017 Donatella Greco was filmed for an international cinema advert to promote the University of Bedfordshire, the advert aired in 2017 throughout July- September . She was the main actress with the role of a sports student. Donatella had the responsibility of following the director’s instructions precisely and to deliver accurate acting throughout the scenes. Donatella expresses “I truly enjoyed being filmed for the international cinema advert, it was a fantastic day and an amazing experience and I cannot wait to see the final video in the cinemas”. In that same year Donatella was selected through casting to be an extra in Tim Burtons new disney film called Dumbo which aired in March 2019. She worked on set for approximately six weeks and is happy to announce that she had an amazing time working on this production and has been spotted in the film. Donatella has also been on set in Huntington filming for a recreation of a 1980's music video ' Shake your Tail Feathers' by the Blue brothers . Filming took place on the 29th of January with the Blue Brothers tribute band - All New blue and Soul Revue. Donatella was one of the main dance performers in the music video.
In 2015 Donatella was noticed by two talent scouts . They invited her to take part in a Modelling Competition in Borgagna and was asked to demonstrate a talent as part of the process. Donatella performed a Bollywood solo in front of a live audience and was ecstatic to find out that she made it into the top three in her region which meant she progressed to the Finals on a live television show called Ragazza cinema ok in Caserta (Italy).Massimo Civale (manager of the show) Provided Donatella a Schedule for the three days staying at the establishment. This consisted of what she needed to do throughout the day respecting specific times for Dance Rehearsals, formal Galas, and various of Interviews on live Television before the day of the show.
Donatella worked alongside with Choreographer Carmine Rullo preparing for the opening performance for the live TV show, she also collaborated with Mimmo Rollo a film director and a Model Chorographer. As well as performing, Donatella was also modelling and competing against other contestants. The Judges was so astonished with her Performance and her Modelling that she won the premio Speciale della Stampa Sash and Trophy (Special Prize of the Press) and was congratulated for her achievements personally by italian actors/Actress Antionio Palma and Floriana Rignanese on stage .
Returning back to the UK Donatella was contacted by Massimo Civale offering her to return in December 2015 to perform on a live Television show named Ballo delle debutante (Dance show) in Caserta. She worked alongside with a a Spanish valzer dance company called il contrapasso .
During her time working on set Donatella was approached by film director Mimmo Rollo , he was shooting a soap called Principessa per una Notte situated at Hotel Vanvitelli. He offered her an acting role within a small scene and she accepted his offer. Donatella was awarded for her achievements and received the International Academy of Film and Television show certificate – Moda(Model)- Ballo (Dancer), spettacolo (show). Donatellas achievements was published on newspapers , social media and websites with reviews.
Donatella expresses " I have had the best experience performing on live television shows, winning the starlet sash and trophy was a fantastic achievement. It was early starts and late finishes throughout the day but it was all worth it".
Additional information
Donatella has recently been involved in an inclusive practice project named the Generations Project and this involved working alongside a lecture from the University of Bedfordshire in assisting her to teach dance sessions at a local residential care home for the residents. This fantastic role has led Donatella to become an assistant artist for a new funded project named Generations Dancing: Community Collective. Her role is to Assist and lead dance classes for two residential care homes and to an older adult class.
Donatella expresses “I believe that it is so important to come together as a community to appreciate one another and to express ourselves through dance. Community dance practice offers the opportunity for every individual to express themselves with their bodies in an artistic context. It is a way for all ages, abilities, races, religions to meet the art of dance and to express themselves through it together and this is something that I truly believe in. Being involved in these projects has given me the chance to grow closer to the residents and It is so beautiful to go and dance with these amazing people“.
Click here on Donatella's Achivements to see evidence of the work mentioned above
Interconnection 19th June 2019
Interconnection a further development of my recent pieces named One Another, Closeness and the Connection within others. These three separate pieces were an exploration of Attachment theories, Somatic practice and the investigation `of a specific question which was how does contact improvisation develop new movement ‘? With the focus of the skin layer of touch between two bodies in contact improvisation and the experiential narratives that emerge from tasks that focus upon that layer. I have now combined and explored all these ideas mentioned to form a contact duet with the exploration of another dance style that I am personally interested in and this is Bollywood dance. I have looked at artists such as Akram Khan for inspiration and influences and this lead to my main motif to be classical Indian gestures that has been developed and manipulated through the body. Interconnection overall investigates the sense of friendship, playfulness, Risks within contact and the attachment of another individual.
As Time goes by 29th March 2019
‘As time Goes by is a piece that reflects on the beautiful relationship between older adults and a younger generation within the community. The piece draws upon the sweet and innocent relationship amongst both generations within a dance based environment. We wanted to demonstrate that both generations can unite together to create something joyful for an audience to witness. The piece was developed through the dancers taking part in a dance class at local residential care home with older adults and this resulted in both generations experiencing each other’s movement vocabulary together and discussing their lifestyle. Through this collaboration we
we filmed aspects of the class which was projected on stage while the dancers are performing to show the audience how the movement relates to the day itself. The movement within ‘As time goes by’ was developed through the movement of the older adults, we used various motifs that we saw and introduced new ones to the piece. It involves gestural hand movements and contact repertoire that portrays different sensations such as a soft, sweet and as well as showing a sharp and dynamical side to the choreography.
The aim of this piece is to encourage young people to think about how they connect with different generations and how dance can be used in different settings.
‘The connection within others (5th sepetmeber 2018)’
This a set dissertation piece using the exploration of contact improvisation and the skin layer of touch. My research question is ‘how does contact improvisation develop new movement ‘? within this question I have focused on the skin layer of touch between two bodies in contact improvisation and the experiential narratives that emerge from tasks that focus upon that layer. The piece involves solos, duets, trios, quartets and quintets, the movement vocabulary in my piece is developed through improvisational tasks that where explored in my rehearsals. Within the piece there are themes and narratives that only emerged through the tasks that were investigated in the process and these where; stress, curiosity and happiness. The movement quality of ‘The connection within others’ involves a lot of strong and sharp movement that revolves around interesting contact work
Closeness ( 21st May 2018)
Closeness is a trio piece that focuses on the exploration of how the body moves in various ways by exploring specific body parts such as the legs, arms and Spine. Within this piece, I have focussed on how these body parts can manipulate each other to lead to movement material. This trio is influenced by somatic practice models such as; Feldenkrais, Body- Mind Centring and contact improvisation.
One Another (25th January 2018)
'One Another' is a duet piece that focuses on the attachment, bond and affection between two individuals. It involves contact repertoire to portray the sensation of being connected and joint to one another. This piece explores how us humans depend on eachother but fear to lose the love and affection towards people we love.The dancers will demonstrate expressive movements to portray the fear of being separated from eachother aswell as soft and delicate movements to represent happiness when they connect together.
Go Crazy (12th March 2018)
A fun and energetic Bollywood piece performed at Loughborough university as part of a competition .
( Donatella who choreographed the piece is also performing in it)
Manipulate ( 26th May 2017)
This piece is exploring how movements are manipulated and controlled by others and yourself. I am using influences from Carmen, a grand opera star who is very expressive with her movements and voice. Using this idea, the dancers will demonstrate expressive movements aswell as a sense of manipulation through their long skirts and props surroundings.
Bollywood Fun ( 26th May 2017)
A fun and energetic Bollywood piece performed at Nottingham university as part of NTU competition .
( Donatella who choreographed the piece is also performing in it)