Vanessa Cruz
Vanessa Hernández Cruz (she, her, ella) is an interdependent Chicana Disabled dance artist & Disability Justice activist. She is from the unceded lands of the Tongva & Kizh lands colonially known as Los Angeles, California. She graduated from California State University Long Beach with her BA in Dance Science.
Over the past few years Vanessa’s work has been shown nationally & internationally. She was recently commissioned by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) to create & perform a new work titled: “La Lucha Sigue/The Fight Continues” to celebrate & honor Corita Kent & Dolores Huerta for their EMPOWERMENT: Cortia + Huerta events. She recently was a guest speaker at Chapman University where spoke about Disability dance & workshopped her contemporary ballet repertoire Nycto-Eternity. Vanessa was a guest artist-in-resident & collaborator for Bradford Chin’s dance MFA Thesis The world was ending, so they danced, & they were free at the University of California, Irvine.
Through her dance films & choreographic work, Vanessa presents the audience with thought-provoking pieces that ignite the imagination & explores Disability aesthetics in contemporary forms and experimentation. She is shifting the dance field away from the inspirational-porn perspective of disability into a humanistic perspective.
To learn more visit: https://www.galaxiesdance.info
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