Ra Ruiz Leon
CAP Teaching Artist
Ra Ruiz Leon is a flamenco dancer and a poet from Ponce, Puerto Rico. Ra began her studies in dance with traditional Boricua roots music, Bomba y Plena, as well as salsa, merengue, and bachata. Among her most treasured artistic experiences are Flamenco Rosado, made possible by Flamenco Vivo's artist in residency program that aimed to create a platform for LGBT flamenco artists in which she shared the stage with Xianix Barrera, Sol ‘La Argentinita’, and guitarist, Antonia Jimenez, and /SER/, a flamenco production by Angelina Ramirez for Lluvia Flamenca in Phoenix, Arizona. She has been a featured opening act for prominent musical artists and poets such as Toshi Reagon, Eve Ensler, Maysoon Zayid, Climbing Poetree, and Meshell Ndegeocello, among others. Ra has led dance residencies and poetry workshops throughout New York for organizations and venues including Dancewave, Flamenco Vivo, The Nuyorican Poets Café, Dance Theater Workshop, Wesleyan University and The Bowery Poetry Club. Currently she is a Teaching Artist for various NYC dance organizations and trains diligently with NYC based flamenco instructors. In the summer of 2018 she was part of Noche Flamenca’s Summer Dance Intensive where she worked on her own piece and was mentored by Soledad Barrio and Martin Santangelo. Most recently, Ra participated in the Flamenco and Spanish Dance Program at Jacob's Pillow.