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Bianca Medina

Bianca Medina

Bianca Medina

Bianca Leticia Medina is a Queens based Boricua-Chicana Dance Artist. The foundation of her career began in Los Angeles as a touring dancer and educator with CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theatre, Viver Brasil Dance Company, and with Choreographer Marina Magalhães. With Magalhães, Medina played the role of Rehearsal Director & Collaborator for the Creative Capital awarded Body As A Crossroads.

Medina joined NYC’s prestigious Urban Bush Women in 2022 as a Company Member, where she toured Haint Blu, Legacy + Lineage + Liberation Tour, and performed in Houston Grand Opera’s world premiere of Intelligence choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Most recently, Medina debuted as a principal dancer in The Metropolitan Opera’s world premiere of El Niño choreographed by UBW Alum Marjani Forte-Saunders. Throughout her career, Medina has graced stages like The Joyce, Jacob’s Pillow, The Hollywood Bowl, The Ford, The Getty Museum, Harlem Stage, Dance The Yard, MASS MoCA, REDCAT, DiverseWorks, Dance Mission Theatre, USC Visions & Voices, The Broad, Grant Park LA, The Ordway, Arsht Center, ASU Gammage, Disneyland’s Viva Navidad Parade, as well as abroad to Brazil, El Salvador, Bulgaria, France.

Medina has led choreographic residencies & served as guest artist faculty for universities and institutions across the U.S. Through a contemporary diasporic lens, Medina’s pedagogy and research lies within the intersection of dances of the Afro-Latin Diaspora, with a firm belief that embodied practices are essential to our liberation. Her choreographic & teaching accolades include CUNY Dance Initiative ’24-’25 Resident Artist, Queen of Samba premiering in LA Latino International Film Festival ’24, SUNY Purchase, IATI Latinx Theatre, in CONTRA-TIEMPO’s joyUS justUS, Mark Morris Dance Center, DancePlace, A Noise Within Theatre NoiseNow, Sacramento State Dance, CSU Summer Arts: Fresno & Monterey Bay, UNCG School of Dance, UWM Peck School of the Arts, UIowa Dance, Dancing Diaspora Collective, U.S. Embassy of El Salvador, among others.

She is a Chicago native, holds a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Iowa, and has deepened her studies in the Orixá tradition in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil under Mestra Vera Passos.

Adult Classes

Intro to Contemporary I | Summer I Series

For absolute beginners with relatively little experience, this class is the perfect introduction to the fundamentals of contemporary dance. The beginning of an exploration of the totality of movement and form, as well as storytelling, dynamic rhythms and energetic release. This is a great series to develop your skill set in contemporary dance elements in a non-competitive, fun environment.

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Intro to Afro Brazilian Orixá | Summer I Series

This series of classes is designed for students who are absolute beginners with relatively little experience with Afro Brazilian Orixá dance. Each week students will learn stories, rhythms, and symbology of an Afro Brazilian Orixá (Yoruba Deities of the candomblé tradition and spirits of nature). Through contemporary diasporic movement, students will be guided to embody their essence and connection to the elements.

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Intro to Contemporary I