Charly Santagado is a dancer, choreographer, director, writer, and curator dedicated to forging interdisciplinary connections across diverse artistic mediums and practices. Originally from Orlando, Florida, and currently based in the New Jersey / New York area, she graduated with highest honors from Rutgers University in 2017 with a major in philosophy and minors in dance, music, and creative writing. The following summer, she founded a 501-c3 nonprofit contemporary dance company with her sister Eriel called mignolo dance (mignolo.dance). She has completed Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company's 5-month International Training Program, Sidra Bell's MODULE, RUBBERBANDance Group's Winter Intensive, Axis Connect Summer Intensive, the Hofesh Shechter Company Intensive, SHARE Intensive Paris, and HAVEN Choreography Mentorship, among other training programs. Charly has danced with VALLETO Dance, ReFrame Dance Theatre, TK Dance Lab, Bailey Benoot, Monteleone Dance Collective, Katelyn Halpern and Dancers, Haven Movement Company, Olivia Dwyer Dance Projects, Maiya Redding, Daniel Rose Projects, and Arts By The People. She also regularly performs in her own work, which has been presented at numerous venues around the tristate area including Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, GK Arts Center, CityCenter Studios, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Paul Taylor Studios, Peridance, Triskelion Arts, Suzanne Roberts Theater, and Baruch Performing Arts Center. In 2019, she was selected for coLAB Arts’ new choreography commission, the Dance Canvas Choreographic Initiative, and an Urbanity Dance NEXT Residency. Her work has been produced by HERE Arts Center, Inclined Dance Project, Jersey City Theater Center, Gardenship Art, The Berrie Center, Dixon Place, and the Metuchen Arts Council. She has won screendance awards at several international film festivals as well as Ramapo College’s Leaning Into The Unknown Competition, Spoke The Hub’s Winter Follies (Director’s Choice), Palm Springs International Dance Festival’s film competition, and KoDaFe in NYC 2021. Most recently, she was commissioned for Norte Maar’s CounterPointe9 and was selected for Kulturfactory’s artist residency program in Domicella, Italy. Charly is also a dance critic and journalist writing for Dance Informa.