Artistic Leadership Click for Spanish

EDUARDO VILARO joined Ballet Hispanico as Artistic Director in August 2009, following a ten-year record of achievement as Founder and Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago. He has been part of the Ballet Hispanico family since 1985. As a dancer in the Ballet Hispanico Company, Mr. Vilaro performed works by Vicente Nebrada, Talley Beatty, Ramon Oller and other audience favorites. As an educator he assisted Ballet Hispanico founder Tina Ramirez in developing a program for children living in temporary housing and was involved with many aspects of the organization’s education residencies.

Mr. Vilaro is an accomplished choreographer, having created over 20 ballets for his own company in addition to the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Lexington Ballet, and the Civic Ballet of Chicago. He has worked in collaboration with major dance and design artists as well as musicians like Paquito D'Rivera, Susana Baca, Luciana Souza, the Grant Park Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2001 he was a recipient of a Ruth Page Award for choreography, and in 2003 he was honored at Panama's II International Festival of Ballet for his choreographic work.

Mr. Vilaro came to New York City at the age of six from his native Cuba. He began his dance training as a teenager on scholarship at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and also studied at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance. He received a B.F.A. in Dance from Adelphi University and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Art from Columbia College Chicago, where he served as Artist-in-Residence at The Dance Center. He was selected as Chicagoan of the Year in 2007 and Alumni of the Year by Columbia College in 2008.

TINA RAMIREZ created Ballet Hispanico in 1970. Under her direction, over 45 choreographers have created works for the Company, many of international stature and others in the early stages of their career. Ballet Hispanico’s repertory of over 95 works is set to a range of musical styles, complemented by production values from a roster of acclaimed designers. The result has been a brilliant mosaic, reflecting the many facets of Latino cultures from around the world and acclaimed in performance by audiences across three continents.

Ms. Ramirez was born in Venezuela, the daughter of a Mexican bullfighter and grandniece to a Puerto Rican educator who founded the island’s first secular school for girls. Her performing career included international touring with the Federico Rey Dance Company, the Broadway productions of Kismet and Lute Song and the television adaptation of Man of La Mancha.

In addition to the 2005 National Medal of Arts, Ms. Ramirez has received countless awards and honors in recognition of her work, including the Dance Magazine Award, the Hispanic Heritage Award for Education, Capezio Dance Award, NYS Governor's Arts Award, and the NYC Mayor’s Award of Honor for Arts & Culture.

Ms. Ramirez currently serves on the board of The New 42nd Street, and was Co-Chair for the New York City Department of Education Dance Curriculum Blueprint Committee. She has served on numerous panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, as well as the board of the Association of Hispanic Arts.