CHOREOGRAPHERS

ROSIE HERRERA (She/Her) is a Cuban-American dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater in Miami. She is a graduate from New World School with a BFA in Dance Performance. She has been commissioned by The Miami Light Project, The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Ballet Hispanico, Jose Limon Dance Company, New Dialect, Moving Ground Dance Theater, Houston Met Dance, New World Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony and the American Dance Festival (ADF) in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2018. Her company, Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, has been presented by the Northrop Dance Series, New World Symphony, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami Light Project, Baryshnicov Arts Center, Texas A & M University, Duncan Theater, The Annenburg Center, Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Dance Place, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, The Yard at Marthas Vineyard, Alys Stephens Center, Miami Dade County Auditorium, Wilson Center at Cape Fear University, The Rialto Center, Diana Wortham Theater, Gotham Dance at Skirball and Focus Dance at The Joyce as well as by The American Dance Festival at the Joyce NYC in 2016 and 2018.

Rosie is also a classically trained lyric coloratura soprano and performs with the Performers Music Institute Opera Ensemble as well as works as an independent director and creative consultant throughout Miami. With over a decade of experience in both dance and cabaret, she has collaborated on productions with Walter Mercado, Carlota Guerrero, Pig Iron Theater, The South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center, New World School of the Arts, The University of Central Florida, Six Floor Ensemble, Zoetic Stage, Orchestra Miami and the New World Symphony as well as with the interdisciplinary performance ensemble/avant- garde cabaret Circ X. She has also collaborated with filmmakers Adam Reign, Lucas Leyva, Jonathon David Kane, George Echevarria, Randy Valdez and Clyde Scott to create original short films and music videos.

Rosie is a 2016 USArtist Sarah Arison Choreographic Fellow, a 2010 and 2018 MANCC choreographic fellow, a 2014 Bates Dance Festival Artist in residence, a 2016 Bessie Schoenberg Fellow and a 2011 and 2016 Miami Dance Fellow. She was awarded a Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship for her work with Ballet Hispanico in 2013.

ERIC PARRA (he/him) is a first-generation Colombian-American artist hailing from Union City, NJ. He began his dance training at Montclair State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance. Eric has danced for Carolyn Dorfman Dance, Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, Von Howard Project, and Doug Elkins Choreography, etc among others. Television and film credits include: POSE on FX, Easter at Crossroads by Crossroads Church, Unconquered by Earl Mosley, and WILD: Act 1 by The Black Iris Project. On stage credits include Fire Shut Up in My Bones (US Tour), The Life and Times of Malcolm X (US Tour), Awaited (Aronoff Center for the Arts). Eric has staged works at Union City High School, Montclair High School, and Montclair State University. Most recently he has served as a teaching artist for NJPAC, Earl Mosley's Institute of the Arts, Perry-Mansfield Professional Dance Intensive and Bates Dance Festival. Through the José Limón Dance Foundation, Parra has been able to share his knowledge of the Limón technique and repertory through being a lead resident teaching artist for Limón4Kids in NYC Public Schools, sharing masterclasses in various institutions around the country as well as Spanish speaking countries, movement coaching for Limón Pro and Limón Launch students, and teaching open classes in Peridance Capezio Center, Gibney Dance, Bryant Park, and Ailey Extension.

In 2020, he and his cousin Erica Kika Parra co-founded Parra La Gente, a project company designed to celebrate Afro-Colombian heritage through music and dance. Mr. Parra is the recipient of the 2016 Martha Hill Dance Fund Young Professional Award, 2017 Linda Roberts Outstanding Senior Dance Award, has been featured in The New York Times Arts Section (2019), was part of the Arts Professional Learning Institute 2021 cohort and most recently has been featured in Raul Tamez's Bessie Award winning piece Migrant Mother. Eric is currently a performing artist with Limón Dance Company and Camille A. Brown & Dancers. For more information, please visit ericparradance.com.

DESIGN / COLLABORATORS

MICHAEL KLAERS, lighting designer. Mr. Klaers has designed lighting for SBDT productions since 2012, including A Leap of Faith (2012-13), Time in Motion (2013-14), Common Ground (2015), the 40th Anniversary Season (2015-16) and Santa Barbara Dance Theater and Friends (2016). His regional theatre credits include Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, Indiana Repertory Theatre.