Internationally acclaimed choreographer Jacopo Godani was born in La Spezia, Italy, where he began studying classical ballet and modern dance techniques in 1984 at the Centro studi Danza under the direction of Loredana Rovagna. He also pursued studies in visual arts at the Academy of Art in Carrara, and continued his studies at Maurice Béjart's international dance centre Mudra in Brussels.
Godani made his professional debut in 1988 performing with several Paris-based contemporary dance companies. In 1990, Godani formed his own Brussels-based company and began his choreographic career. From 1991 to 2000, Godani has been a leading soloist with William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt and has collaborated with Forsythe on the choreographic creation of many of Ballet Frankfurt's most representative pieces.
Godani developed his career as a choreographer creating original works for a vast range of international companies such as Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Compañía Nacional de Danza, Nederlands Dans Theater, Royal Danish Ballet, Semperoper Ballett, Sydney Dance Company, "The Project" Israeli Opera & Susanna Dellal Centre, Het Nationale Ballet, Aterballette, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballett.
Jacopo Godani has been appointed as Artistic Director and Choreographer of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company beginning with the 2015/2016 season.
Godani's work is sophisticated while remaining highly physical and raw. He uses the collective working as one organism in a highly articulated way. Godani conceives all stages of work from the initial choreography through to designing the spaces, objects, environments and stage settings where his actions take place, writes text and concepts for his dramaturgical work, styles the image of interpreters conceiving costumes, engineers and develops innovative ways of using lighting, video and projections, and creates/edits music for some of his pieces. Godani formed a team of like-minded professionals to collaborate on the development of original ideas applied to all fields that require a creative and innovative concept to reflect the progressive perspective of our contemporary world.