RUBÉN GRACIANI is a high school graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts. He went on to study on scholarship at The JuIlliard School and graduated from the State University of New York, Purchase College, receiving a B.F.A. in Dance. After graduation, he joined the Mark Morris Dance Group as a contract performer. Additionally, he has performed as a guest artist with the CityDance Ensemble and Brian Brooks Moving Company, and has been a company member of the Kevin Wynn Collection, the Joe Goode Performance Group and Company Stefanie Batten Bland. He is an M.F.A. graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park.

His company, RG Dance Projects, has performed to acclaim in New York, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Virginia and Shanghai, among others. He won the “Audience Favorite” Award at the Joe’s Pub DanceNow Festival in 2012. he received two Arts for Ohio Choreographic Grants which resulted in the collaboration, Oyster, with composer John Orfe and the Grammy Award-winning new music ensemble, Alarm Will Sound. collaborated with renowned composer Richard Danielpour, premiered site-specific work at the Tang Museum, worked in collaboration with the Academy ACJW for a performance of L’Histoire du Soldat, and premiered three works for Saratoga ArtsFest. Rubén’s work on dance films with his Skidmore students was profiled in the November 2012 edition of Dance Magazine.

Mr. Graciani joined the faculty of James Madison University in July of 2017 as the Director of the School of Theatre and Dance, and currently serves as the Acting Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at JMU.