Diego Tortelli began his studies at STUDIO 76 in Brescia, then continued at the National Academy of Dance in Rome, and finally at the Teatro alla Scala Academy.
He began his career in Valencia with the Ballet de Teatres and was later invited by Gustavo Ramirez to join the Luna Negra Chicago company. In 2012, he joined Le Ballet National de Marseille/Frederic Flamand. Since 2015, he has worked as a freelancer for Munich Opera, BOD/Richard Siegal, Korzo Theater, and La Veronal.
His choreographic work has led him to create Descamino de Dos for INTRODANS and CND Madrid, together with Mattia Russo, with whom he later co-founded the cultural association KOR’SIA alongside Antonio de Rosa and Giuseppe Dagostino. He also created Recapitulo for MCA Chicago, We Are All Sanpaku with musician Emanuele Maniscalco, Carmen Suite for EKO Dance Project, Vox Multitudinis for the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Vitreae Vultus for the MILANoLTRE festival, and Cursus for Palcoscenico Danza Torino, also for EKO Dance Project. In 2017, he created Bella Addormentata for the Nuovo Balletto di Toscana.
In 2018, his works Lorca sono tutti for MILANoLTRE and Domus Aurea within the Bach Project for the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto were presented.
In 2019, he created Shifting Perspective, a co-production between Tanzburo Munchen, Kampnagel Hamburg, and Fabrik Potsdam. For the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto, he created Inter-view: Emanuele e Clément, a duo on the theme of able/disabled, and A Poetry Abstraction, commissioned by Marina Rinaldi.
In 2020, for the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto, he created Feeling Good, for one able-bodied and one disabled dancer, the video creation 1 Meter CLOSER, which premiered on Rai5, and the video installation LASCIA CH’IO…
In 2019, he co-founded his personal research project in Munich with dramaturg Miria Wurm, supported by the Muffathalle Theater and the Art Department of Munich. In 2020, they presented their first independent evening, titled SNOW CRASH.
In 2021, he created Preludio and Another Story for the Storie evening, and the MicroDanze in both live and virtual reality versions (Kepler and Meridiana). In 2022, he choreographed the New Year’s Concert broadcast live on Rai1, created the site-specific performance Stanze\Rooms, and a new work for the 16 dancers of Aterballetto, SHOOT ME.
Diego Tortelli is the resident choreographer at the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto and associate choreographer for the MILANoLTRE festival and Tanzburo Munchen production center. In 2021, he was awarded the first call for Italian artists launched by the Venice Biennale’s Dance Sector, directed by Wayne McGregor, for the creation of an original, unpublished choreographic project.