Adriana Di Cillo (Communication – UOC) Brazilian-Italian, dramatist, actress, choreographer and video artist. Her education started at the age of four with classical ballet at the Escola de Bailados Sylvia Maria Koesling in São Paulo, and among other  art forms has included Flamenco dance with several renowned maestros around the world, having professional specialization at the Fundación Christina Hereen in Sevilla, Spain. In Buenos Aires Mrs Di Cillo studied Argentinean Tango at the Escuela Argentina de Tango (EAT) and Film Direction at Solo Cortos Escuela de Artes Visuales. A former disciple of Smt. Meenakshi Chitharanjan (Bharatanatyam), Adriana was also trained in Kathak by Smt. Jigyasa Giri and Malabika Mitra in India, and Kung Fu by Sifu Janio (Northern Shaolin), Sifu Thomas Lo (Wing Chun Kuen), and Sifu A.K. Abbas (Wushu) in Madras. With a vast international experience, Mrs Di Cillo has performed in very auspicious stages from The House of Blues, The Hollywood Bowl and Luna Park in Los Angeles, to the Music Academy of Madras and the Sangeet Natak Academy of Lucknow in India. Throughout the years Adriana has been fortunate to collaborate with artists from all over the world: Alberto de Almar, Mark Lamsom, Julio Figueroa, Ricardo Peralta, Elias Andreato, Walter Portella, Antonio Vargas, Abhiman Kaushal, Sheela Kinhal, Meenakshi Chitharanjan, Anuj Arjun Mishra, Mallika Sarabhai, among many others. Mrs Di Cillo has coached, choreographed and performed as a guest artist in several dance companies as well as in various international social projects, to name a few: City Moves and Soul Beat (California/US), PETI (Brazilian Federal Child Labor Eradication Program), CECCO (Brazilian Program for Communities in Social Vulnerability), Tendal da Lapa (São Paulo City Arts and Culture Program for Social Inclusion) among others. She has been awarded for Best Coach for Ensemble at the Festival de Teatro Interclubes de São Paulo in 1994 and nominated as Best Female Solo Performer of the Year 2000 by the SDADA (San Diego Area Dance Alliance). In the same year Ms Di Cillo received a grant from the New York Trust Foundation, to continue her studies on the oriental origins of flamenco in Spain. Since then Adriana has migrated back and forth between europe, India, US and South america. Mrs Adriana Di Cillo is the director of Mundaka Arte & Cultura, and a member of the International Dance Council CID, partner of UNESCO.

 

Diego Hauptman, Brazilian/Argentinean, graduated in Philosophy by the Universidade Federal do Paraná – UFPR, photographer, musician, multi-instrumentalist specialized in strings, Indian Classical Music (Sitar) and devotional singing. Mr. Hauptman has been developing research converging philosophy and music since 1998. He has trained Indian Classical singing under the guidance of the renowned vocalists: Meeta Ravindra and Ratnabali Adhikari. Diego has produced and directed the Upanishads music band, releasing their first CD in the year of 2006 and in 2010 released his own solo CD named Nada Yoga. In 2012 Diego performed at the Mostra Mudra at the CCBB in Rio de Janeiro, along renowned artists of the national Indian Music scenario as well as international exponents such Sri Chitravina N. Ravikiran. He was also appointed as the Sitar Teacher for the ICC in São Paulo.  Mr. Hauptman so far has learned the art of Sitar playing from Mr. Abhik Mukherjee, Mr Ramprapana Battacharya, Mr Subhranil Sarkar, Ustad Shujaat Khan, and Ustad Shahid Parvez, all representing the Etawah/Imdadkhani Gharana. Currently Diego is studying flamenco guitar with Maestro Rafael Cañizares and is also composing soundtracks and electronic music. Mr. Diego Hauptman is the vice-president and executive director of Mundaka Arte & Cultura.