Today we’d like to introduce you to Vannia Ibarguen.
Hi Vannia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Lima, Peru. Since I can remember, I always loved to dance. I was the one that loved to organize people to dance, leading original dances or choreographies since I was very little, for shows at my school, at kid’s birthdays, and grown-ups parties! As I was always in movement, my mom decided to enroll me in gymnastics. There, one of the coaches told us to try Ballet. I did and I loved it! When I finished high school, I had to decide between a “real career” and dance. As my family didn’t have enough money to sustain ourselves, I decided to study System Engineering, which by that time was a career that gave you enough money to pay your expenses and sustain a family in Peru. But I never stopped dancing.
I was part of the Dance troupe at the University of Lima, as well as part of the Ballet Municipal de Lima, the biggest Ballet company in Peru. Until I couldn’t continue ignoring that I wanted to dance more. I decided to turn my hobby in my career, so after becoming a part-time dance teacher at my former University and having a position as a professional dancer at the Ballet Municipal de Lima, I came to the United States to study a Master’s in Dance at the University of Maryland. That’s where I realized that I had a world to learn! It was a great experience. I went back to Peru and taught at a couple of universities, helping to create the first recognized dance program in higher education in Peru and performing and choreographing several full-length shows with my company VIDA Dance Arts. We offered public dance performances and educational experiences focused in the environment and human interactions.
In 2011, while in Peru, I was contacted by Marylee Hardenbergh from Global Water Dances project, asking me to lead a dance event in Peru. In Global Water Dances, hundreds of people around the world dance to raise awareness around global and local water issues. That sounded like a perfect fit for me, as I was already doing environmental and social justice work through the arts! Years later, I returned to the US with my partner and two daughters and was able to continue with Global Water Dances, and in 2016, I became the Artistic Director of this initiative! We are now an organization that orchestrates performances in the five continents in more than 180 locations, dancing for safe water around the world. At the same time, I’m Faculty at the Cerritos College’s Dance Department, Board member of the California Dance Education Association and Professional Fellow at the Arts Council for Long Beach.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I grew up in Peru, a “third world” or developing country, during the times of internal conflict, guerrillas, and economic crisis due to hyperinflation. This made my parents and myself being aware of the importance of education as the most valuable investment in life. Being a dancer was not considered a career in Peru – literally, there was no “Dance” as a program in any college. It was considered something only rich people could afford. I studied Engineering and studied dance as a side career by getting scholarships and working hard. After working for six years as an Information Technology consultant, I traveled to USA to pursue my Masters in Dance. There, I realized I was part of an international minority. Being my mother language Spanish, and even while I passed all the tests for English as a second language, I had to work harder to understand and write in English for scholarly and research papers. I was able to receive support and mentoring, so I’m very thankful to the people who helped me. I am aware that extra time and resources are needed for international students in order to adapt and being successful in education in the USA, so now I’d like to give to the younger generation in the same way that I received when I most needed it, and being a mentor for them.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m the Artistic Director of VIDA – Vannia Ibarguen Dance Arts and Global Water Dances. I am a choreographer and a teaching artist, so I enjoy facilitating workshops and giving dance classes. I created my own company, VIDA Dance Arts, in order to be involved in creative processes, produce new performances, and foster collaborations with other artists. My creative works span a variety of genres and moods. I choreograph rhythmically and structurally layered contemporary dance pieces designed to entertain audiences and at the same time to provoke thought. My current choreographic interests place importance on the individuality of the performers with whom I create each work, synthesizing their experiences into compositions that hinge upon a premise. I enjoy collaborating with artists, producing original works to which audiences can relate on multiple levels. Given my background in Information Technology, I am also interested in how technology fits in the dance environment. I believe in dance innovation through the use of digital media and technology and the engagement of the audience using technological elements that can be part of a choreographic piece and not mere additions to a concert.
As Artistic Director of Global Water Dances (GWD), I connect with choreographers from different cities around the world who want to create change through eco-arts activism. We use dance and film to make visible local and global water issues and inspire action. Since 2011, GWD has been organizing dances and in 2021, our 10th anniversary, we produced a beautiful documentary that is part of our offerings for organizations and institutions that would like to see what is possible when arts, science, and community come together to protect our environment.
My goals for the short/mid-term is to participate in dance festivals as a choreographer and dancer and to have an independent teaching practice to engage both young and adults. I would love to have a space on my own or to foster a space collaboration. I would like to partner with media artists to create a platform where video and dance are collaborative, which is something I’m doing on my own but I would like to do it with other local artists. My dream for the future is that Los Angeles and specifically Long Beach could have its own site-specific itinerant dance festival where different parts of the city could be taken to create a dance with the architecture and natural spaces.
I envision people believing in the intelligence and wisdom of their own bodies. I feel like during the time of quarantine, people have been spending way extra time in from of the screens. I would like to see young people reclaiming their bodies and move, I would like to see the community of Los Angeles moving outdoors or indoors, taking classes and sharing in a non-competitive, multicultural, and creative space. I was able to see this when I organized dance festivals in Long Beach as part of the project Global Water Dances in 2017 and 2019. People enjoy watching dance and to dance. To move and be moved! We are working on our 2023 event in connection with Los Angeles Unified School District and hope this will be a great year!
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I started doing ballet when I was 12 years old, which it could be considered late for a professional dancer! I studied Systems Engineering as my Undergrad and worked as an Information Technology Consultant for six years. My boss, who knew I danced for a ballet company, suggested me to apply for a Unesco dance residence abroad, and I got it! After that amazing experience, I decided to change jobs, study a Master’s in Dance, and to transform my hobby into my career!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.vanniaibarguen.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vidadancearts
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/vanniai
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/vanniai
- Other: http://www.globalwaterdaces.org
Image Credits
Feature (jump in black dress) and portrait: Christopher Boudewyns Danielle Riniolo (beach pictures) Prin Rodriguez (jump with eyes closed, b/w with plastic bags) Seated with veil: Javier Gamboa Denise Leitner (in black/gray dress, leg straight)
