Dance Portfolio

DANCE PORTFOLIO Victoria Padilla Dancer/ Choreographer

Biography Victoria Padilla is a senior at the University of Texas at El Paso pursuing her B.F.A in Dance with a Concentration in Choreography. She has been dancing throughout the El Paso community her entire life, performing with many teams/studios ranging from "Viva El Paso", "EL Paso Performing Arts", to the "UTEP Dance Team" and "The UTEP Theatre and Dance Department". With the help of many past mentors, Victoria decided to pursue dance as a career and strives to inspire others to achieve their own ambitions, regardless of societal norms. She has a passion for movement and expression and hopes to one day teach a variety of dance classes for all ages and skill levels.

Artist Statement I am a dancer and a choreographer inspired by my personal experiences of life. I’ve always wondered why I gravitated towards dance, so much so that I wanted to make a career out of it. I then realized that we as humans need dance in our life, I needed dance in my life.

Dance to me is the most beautiful art form, because every tool you’ll ever need is always with you. As a choreographer and future educator, I want my work to motivate others and bring an escape into their lives. Dance is a form of therapy for most, it’s a way of expressing oneself using your body to communicate what’s on your mind. My life perspective is actively changing, therefore, so is my art. My dance style is influenced by jazz and contemporary, but I can manipulate it to be what I need it to be, whether that’s to be powerful, energetic, calm, intricate or mesmerizing. The human body and mind go hand in hand, in my work I focus on making sure the audience can feel every emotion and understand the dancer as if they are inside their mind.

In future works, I strive to incorporate mixed media into my choreographic projects via projections, photography, animation etc. Currently I am exploring new approaches to creating my art and finding my signature using books, lyrics, poems, sculptures, and colors. I hope my journey as a choreographer can influence other artists to continue their passions and allow themselves to fully submerge into their research and exploration.

Manifesto Freedom of expression Judge free environment Allow creativity to flow with ease Strive to inspire Pass on personal learned experiences Don’t allow negativity Embrace the flaws Bring a unique experience through your creative process Do what you love dance related or not Create a fun approach to learning Stay motivated but know when to rest Keep an open mind Remember why you love to dance

Teaching Philosophy To be able to teach, you must know your craft and how to convey it to others. I believe passing on knowledge from learned experiences is so important to becoming a great educator, coach, mentor, choreographer etc. In dance, personal experience is in my opinion, the best way to get others to understand a certain topic from a raw perspective. It is my goal as a dance educator to make learning fun and easy. Students’, dancers and non-dancers alike should feel welcomed and not judged in an environment that is supposed to bring positivity and sense of freedom from a normal day to day.

For example, I will conduct inclusivity with dance games, allowing students to select the (clean) music, and allowing students to lead each other in warmup. My role is to allow my students to express themselves, with certain boundaries and rules enforced so there is a common respect amongst peers, as well as to prevent injury. My approach to teaching is simple, I will include a couple of teaching methods such as collaborative learning and pedagogy.

Students will learn the importance of dance in this experience of life, as well as its effect on humanity throughout history. Dance is not only good for the mind and soul but is also a great form of exercise for the body.

The goal for student learning is to have them learn the meaning/importance of dance and maintaining good health. Students will learn that exercising can be fun and freeing.

Studio exercises will include learning how to properly stretch, learning about musicality and how to count, as well as basic choreographic techniques with vocabulary. When it comes to the art of dance it is fun to work alone, but I have made the best memories working on choreography withmy peers. With that said, my students will be working in groups and this will not only help them in their future careers (dance or non-dance related) but it will enhance their communication/ networking skills.

To be an effective teacher, you must be able to guide each individual student and to do so is to understand their perspective but also keep order. Every day as I am evolving as a teacher, I will also learn from my students. I vow to constantly strive to become a better educator not only for myself, but for my students.

Resume VICTORIA PADILLA Dancer/Choreographer 8157 Griffin way 915-831-0015 vpadilla7@miners.utep.edu

El Paso, TX 79907 OBJECTIVE

OBJECTIVE

My objective as a choreographer is to help dancers shape their own way to become successful in any path of life they choose, dance related or not. I want to allow dancers to be able to let their creativity flow, while providing guidance and structure.

EDUCATION —

EXPERIENCE

The University of Texas at El Paso

December 2021-Present Receptionist • Studio Coordinator • Waxing the City

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with a concentration in Choreography

April 2019-May 2023 UTEP Dance • Dance Member • University of Texas at El Paso

Bel Air High School August 2015-June 2019

April 2019-March 2021 Retail • Sales Associate • Old Navy Inc Being involved in a variety of work environments I have developed skills such as customer service, time management, and leadership.

KEY SKILLS — Social Media Conflict Resolution Marketing Microsoft Word/Excel Music mixing Software Video Editing

COMMUNICATION -Customer service allowed me to learn to communicate and adjust to many different personalities.

-In a team setting I learned to listen, give, and receive feedback and work with others.

AWARDS -UTEP Dance Team 1st place NDA National Championship 2023 -UTEP Dance Team Academic Scholarship recipient 2022

REFERENCES Ashley Avila (915) 626-4522 Gabrielle Contreras (915) 256-7951

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CV

VICTORIA PADILLA CHOREOGRAPHER vpadilla7@miners.utep.edu (915) 831-0015 El Paso, TX 79907

Adept at helping dancers condition for challenging routines. Good planner, organizer and problem-solver with proven choreography skills and specialization in jazz/pom.

EDUCATION

EXPERIENCE

The University of Texas At El Paso El Paso, TX • Expected in 05/2024

University Of Texas At El Paso - Dance Student

Bachelor of Fine Arts: Dance With A Concentration in Choreography Bel Air High School 06/2019

• (April 2023) Performed in Gathering For Water: Dance Festival: I was cast in Leslie Arias's senior capstone piece titled "Brincando El Charco".

UTEP - Dance Team Member 08/2019 - 04/2023 • (April 2023) Performed at NDA Nationals in Daytona, FL.

SKILLS • Active Listening • Strength Conditioning • Rehearsal Organization • Music Production • Marketing Plans • Choreography Creation • Practice Schedules • Staff Training • Customer Service • Money Handling • Excellent People Skills

REFERENCES • Leslie Lopez (915) 504-9146 • Melissa Melpignano (310) 745-9709 • Neri Torres (915) 747-7997 • Susane Paz (915) 219-2796

• (April 2022) Performed in the UTEP Opera's Luisa Fernanda show.

• (March 2022) Performed at the NCAA CUSA Basketball Tournament in Frisco, TX. • (November 2021) Performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, NY. • (November 2021) Performed with the UTEP Band at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. • (November 2019) Performed with the UTEP Band at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. • Performed at many UTEP football/basketball/soccer events.

• Choreographed group performances for local high school dance teams.

• Taught dance classes to children and adults of different skill levels.

Bel Air High School Performing Dance Team-Mu Delta Chi - Dance Team Captain 01/2016 - 01/2019 • (January 2018) Participated and performed in TDEA (Texas Dance Educators Association) convention in Houston, TX. • (December 2018) Performed in the YISD "Winter Meltdown" as an All Star performer in El Paso, TX.

Photos

Website https://free-4189824.webador.com