


photo: Maciej Zakrzewski


The Press
"The evening began with Polish music, i.e. Stabat Materto music by Karol Szymanowski choreographed by Daniela Cardim. This neoclassical interpretation delighted with symmetry, synchronism, consistency, as well as the choreographer's understanding of music.."
Katarzyna Nowicka-Rynkiewicz, culturepoznan.pl, November 2022
"(Nocturne)...set to Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne No.13 in C minor, it’s a beautiful, intense and very intimate pas de deux, and a highlight of the evening. Camino Llonch and Daniel Corthorn are the couple working their way through sorrow and loss. Surrounded by darkness, perhaps the darkness of their feelings, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who recalled Jerome Robbins’ In the Night. Llonch throws herself at Corthorn. She clings to him. But all the time there is a bond, a closeness and togetherness that you feel will see them through. I will be amazed if Nocturne doesn’t stay in the repertory for a long time."
David Mead, Seeing Dance, June, 2022
"Daniela Cardim’s Nocturne was a deeply expressive pas de deux to Chopin’s Nocturne No.13 in C Minor. Camino Llonch and Daniel Corthorn absolutely captured the underlying current of experiencing grief and the choreography echoed the music in all its light and shade in a series of beautifully crafted passages."
Deborah Weiss, Dance for You Magazine, June 2022
'(Reset) ... with a riveting exactitude of movement and strength that rarely abated... Cardim's lucid and uncluttered choreography was thrilling,'
Rita Clarke, Limelight, Perth, Australia, February, 2022
“Cardim's movement has a calm serenity, beautifully danced by the company (Imminent, Birmingham Royal Ballet,"
The Stage, November, 2021
"(Imminent) is packed with sprinting runs and whirling turns as it luxuriates in the sheer delight of movement,"
The American, Jarlath O'Connell, November, 2021
"Taking a more classical approach, Daniela Cardim’s Imminent has a strong focus on the environment and specifically global warming and the uncertainty of what the future holds. There is a real delicacy about the choreography that makes it easy to engage with and react to – through every movement the dancers all give a real sense of urgency and fear about the situation, while Peter Teigan’s lighting design enhances that feeling of drama and tension perfectly towards the end.“
Emma Clarendon, Love London Love Culture, Nov 2021
'Sleek, joyful dancing... Cardim and her dancers bring out the sheer pleasure of moment... Cardim's story-telling is fresh and direct'
Zoe Anderson, the Independent, Nov, 2021
"Daniela Cardim, a former dancer with Dutch National Ballet, has made a wonderfully intriguing, witty piece entitled What Got You Here, looking at the huge unlikelihood of a human species, indeed of life in any shape or form, evolving on planet Earth, and including implicit criticism of our collective failure to live up to our custodial responsibilities. The dancers pointed fingers at each other as a voiceover elucidated these ideas, and the audience was included in the finger-pointing, as if to say, “You’re older than we are: you should know better!” But this was all done with smiles and goodwill. Dressed in sporty whites with flashes of bright turquoise or yellow, the dancers sail through the often-challenging work, which includes plenty of interesting step sequences and challenging double work. If this is representative of Cardim’s capabilities, we shall have much to enjoy from her in the future.”
Amanda Jennings, Dance Europe Magazine, Aug 2019
"Daniela Cardim took to Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything for inspiration for her opus. What Got You Here cleverly uses a voiceover (which explains just how unlikely a conglomeration of atoms it took for all of us simply to exist) to power the movement and does so in a way that’s both funny and thought-provoking. It even manages to leave us with a strong message warning of the environmental dangers facing the planet. Excellently put together and a great watch."
Gerard Davis, Dancing Review, Jul 2019
"The first new work - and also the most interesting of the program - is What Got You Here by the Brazilian Daniela Cardim. On each of the beautiful miniatures by composer Nico Muhly, three men and three women answer the amazement that sounds in Bill Bryson's texts, as quoted from his equally witty and masterly A Short History or Nearly Everything. The dance is frieze and airy, but with enough interesting movement material. I would like to see it three times in a row.”
Het Parool, Amsterdam, 2019
"Inspired by Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, the dancers were accompanied by extracts from the audio book and a diverse array of music fragments... six young dancers brought the subtle irony of Bryson’s words to life with a youthful playfulness that belied the technical polish and faultless timing of their performance."
Arts Talk Mag.NL, February, 2019
“Cardim’s enchainment’s had a screensaver-ish flow but her real gift is for the tricky business of getting dancers on and off. Lesser dancemakers play about with lights or resort to a po-mo slouch into the wings but Cardim’s ensembles melt away to solos like magic."
Louise Levene, Financial Times, Nov 2016 on Vertex
“Top honours.... go to Cardim for Vertex, a highly attractive, inventively dynamic ensemble dance inspired by a lively, tender string quartet by Camargo Guarnieri and British sculptor Ann Christopher’s abstract drawings.”
Donald Hutera, The Times, Nov 2016
"Tangents, by company manager and choreographer of growing repute Daniela Cardim to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition was an abstract, lyrical journey centred around the changes in relationships, the differences in how people interact with each other. It was sensitively shaped, with a number of eye-catching sequences. I liked the moment when two of the girls came on stage huddled on the backs of their partners like infant monkeys clinging desperately to their parents."
Deborah Weiss, Dance Europe, August 2015
Daniela Cardim
Daniela's video reel is here.
Daniela Cardim is a Brazilian/British choreographer based in London. She danced with Ballet do Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro for 5 years, and with Dutch National Ballet, in Amsterdam, for 11 years.
As a choreographer, Cardim gives great importance to musicality and her creative process involves close collaboration with the dancers.
Daniela has created works for Dutch National Ballet (main and Junior companies), New English Ballet Theatre, Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo Companhia de Dança, English National Ballet School, Elmhurst Ballet School, Dutch National Ballet School, School of American Ballet (as part of the New York Choreographic Institute), and the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
In 2016 she created two ballets to critical acclaim: Uirapuru for Ballet do Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro and performed at their opera house, and Vertex for New English Ballet Theatre, performed at the Peacock Theatre in London.
Her 2019 commission What Got You Here, a creation for Dutch National Ballet Junior Company, was performed in Amsterdam and on tour in The Netherlands as well as at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Theatre in London to great critical acclaim.
In 2019, Daniela also created a new work for Elmhurst Ballet School and Two Husbands for New English Ballet Theatre, which previewed in September at the Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler's Wells.
Daniela is New English Ballet Theatre’s Associate Choreographer and created works for the company in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. Daniela was cited as ‘new name to watch’ by Dance Europe Magazine’s Critics’ Choice Awards for her 2015 work for NEBT. Her work Vertex has been chosen by Dance Europe's Critics’ Choice Awards as one of the 'Best Premieres of 2017’. Dance Europe's Critics’ Choice Awards as one of the 'Best Premieres of 2017’.
In June 2021 Daniela's Imminent for Birmingham Royal Ballet premiered as part of ‘Curated by Carlos’ at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and was then performed at Sadler's Wells in November. Daniela is also creating a new work for Images Ballet Company and will be also co-choreographing a dance film with Peter Leung.
In January 2022, Daniela travelled to Australia to create Reset, a new work for West Australian Ballet and later in the year created Nocturne for New English Ballet Theatre and in November created Stabat Mater to the music of Szymanowski for Poland's Poznan Ballet.
In 2022, Daniela was appointed Assistant Director and Associate Choreographer for New English Ballet Theatre.
@daniela_cardim