Staff & Teaching Artists

She is doing her life’s work -- a mission to ensure that young people, community and educators have access to, and a meaningful connection with, arts experiences that transform their lives through the incredible work of exquisite artists and their craft. She’s earned degrees in Secondary Education and Literature from Hunter College, an MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College and is currently a doctoral student in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center.

She earned a B.A. from the World Arts and Cultures Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. Upon graduation, she moved to Europe for three years to train in a conservatory of Spanish Dance. In the States, she has worked as a teaching artist in both private and public schools, exposing children of all ages to dance education. Since moving to New York, Ms. Cabrera has interned in several Education & Outreach departments, including Pentacle Dance Arts and Ballet Hispanico. Franchesca is a performing artist for the Brooklyn based dance theater company, COMPANYXIV and also teaches in the Ballet Hispanico School of Dance.

Siomara earned a BA in Dance Education from CUNY Hunter College as a Jody Arnhold Mother’s Day Scholarship honoree. She has been teaching different fusion styles of dance and creative movement to youth and adults since she was a teenager at places such as the Astoria School of Fine Arts, The Dalton School, Mambo 101 Studios and the Ridgewood Bushwick Youth Council. In the spring of 2011, Siomara was selected to develop and co-teach a curriculum on “Urban Dance in America” in partnership with the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture. She developed a lecture/demonstration-style historical timeline of social dances in urban America and facilitated workshops across a number of cities in Costa Rica for three weeks. As a performer, her love of hip hop and modern dance styles have led her to work with artists such as Camille Brown, David Capps, Monica Bill Barnes, Robin Dunn, and Tweetie; she has performed at the National Black Theater, Dixon Place, The Ailey School, The Kaye Theater, Triskilion Arts, and Dance Theater Workshop. In addition to creating her own work and performing with Katie Balton Dance, Siomara is very interested in the intersection of movement/performance, community engagement, education and increasing access to the arts which she feels is paramount in her current role at Ballet Hispanico.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Choreography Summer Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow Contemporary Traditions Program on Scholarship, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s School on Scholarship, The Ailey School’s Professional Division, and earned a Bachelors of Arts with double majors of Dance and Studio Art from City University of New York, Hunter College. Ms. Álvarez has performed at premier venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Jacob’s Pillow, the Tribeca Performing Arts Center as well as appeared on numerous nationally-televised programs. As a dance instructor, Ms. Álvarez has taught Creative Movement, Pre-Ballet, Flamenco, Salsa, Ballroom and Modern dance to children and adults for Mukonoso`s Yochien in Amagasaki Japan, CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College, Perry Studios in Harlem, and throughout New York City schools.