The Art of Resiliency
I met Francisco walking into a dance studio 3 years ago here in San Antonio, Texas and we immediately began talking about dance (duh!), our mutual love for photography and the art of photographing dancers. A couple of weeks later, we collaborated on my BARE Artist portrait series and we have remained friends ever since.
As a former principle dancer for the Paul Taylor dance company, Francisco spent 13 years dazzling the stage in New York. He captured the hearts of many and was featured in Dance Magazine and declared a "virtuoso star" by the New York Times. But accomplishing a rigorous and wildly successful dance career wasn't all that Francisco had on the agenda.
So what is Francisco up to these days?
One thing that has always impressed me about Francisco is his ability to adapt and overcome. This pandemic has been an experience for all of us and with the dance and arts industry on hold at the moment, I was eager to see how he had been doing and what his next steps were now that he was back in his hometown. I was grateful to be able to catch up with him during our collaborative (and socially distanced) shoot at the studio.
Turns out, Francisco has been quite the busy bee working as a photographer on weekends, practicing and training daily as a Gyrokinesis instructor, virtually teaching for 2 major dance intensives in New York, and continuing his anti-racist work as an alumni representative for his alma mater at the School of Dance at Florida State University. And as if that wasn't enough, his biggest endeavor to date was starting his own LLC, Graciano Dance Projects, as a place to channel his creative practices and gather funding to pay his artists. He is currently working on his first film project that will feature dancers and a film maker based in New York. Indeed, this is a marvelous time for intense creation.
I tip my hat to you, sir. I cannot wait to see what you do next!
You can read more about Francisco and his work at www.franciscograciano.com and follow him on Instagram at @CiscoGraciano
Click to learn more about the winter intensives he will be teaching at here:
