ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | CHOREOGRAPHER
Dance is my sanctuary—a way of connecting to something bigger, something infinite. It’s where I feel alive, raw, and grounded in this beautifully chaotic world. Dance protects me. It challenges me to reflect, to grow, to heal. It lives in my body, my soul, my mind—it’s a part of me, no matter what life throws my way.
When I create, I’m not just making movement; I’m pouring out my truth. My work is about protest, love, identity, and sexuality. It’s about fantasies, relationships, and the messy, beautiful complexity of being human.
I’m inspired by so much—my ancestors, the dance legends who paved the way for us dancers, my parents’ stories, dreams, symbols, the quiet poetry in everyday life and the chaos. A look, a word, a fleeting moment—these tiny things carry such weight and find their way into my choreography. My work is vulnerable. It’s nostalgic. It’s a reflection of what it means to navigate life in all its beauty and struggle.
But more than anything, dance is my liberation. It’s where I strip away expectations and let my truth flow. It’s where I feel free to express myself—my body, my voice, my story—with nothing held back. Each work helps me find myself over and over again, and I always celebrate after recognizing the work was done with a beautiful team of dance artists who dare to be vulnerable with me.
Born in El Paso, TX, and raised in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Valeria Y. Gonzalez is a dynamic and passionate dance artist, choreographer, educator, and producer. Valeria holds an MFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, focusing on Performance and Pedagogy. Her thesis, Regarding the Female Body, Sexuality, and Identity in Dance, continues to influence her work today. After completing her Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies at UTEP, she continues to add to, edit, and further her research. During her time at Tisch, she had the privilege of learning from esteemed professors and choreographers such as Phyllis Lamhut, Sean Curran, Pam Pietro, Bobbi Jene Smith, Rashaun Mitchell, Jeremy Nelson, Betsy Coker, Giada Matteini, and others. She also had the opportunity to perform in HELPLESS PEOPLE by MADBOOTS with the Second Avenue Dance Company.
Before Tisch, her pre-professional journey began in Guadalajara in 2007 under the tutelage of Ballet Master Héctor Hernández, father of Isaac Hernández, now principal at ABT, where she honed her classical skills before earning a scholarship to the pre-professional program at Ballet Divertimento in 2009 in Montreal. It was in Montreal that Valeria discovered her passion for Dance Theater after being exposed to Cas Public, Marie Chouinard, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, and others— a discovery that would profoundly shape her artistic vision. While at Ballet Divertimento, Valeria performed new works by Gioconda Barbuto (Nederlands Dans Theater), Eric Miles (BJM Danse), David Pressault (Toronto Dance Theater), Rayco Cano Cortes (GöteborgsOperans Danskompani), and more. In 2011, she moved to New York City for the Movement Invention Project intensive, where she was introduced to Gaga, Floorwork, Partnering, Forsythe techniques, and more by choreographers and teachers such as Shamel Pitts, Shannon Gillen, Andrea Miller, Sidra Bell, Gabriel Forestieri, Alexandra Wells, and Jill Johnson. She later was accepted to study at The Ailey School's Independent Study Program. Valeria is a dedicated lifelong learner, having participated in more than 30 prestigious dance intensives worldwide, most recently the Atlas Biennial Festival in Guanajuato, Mexico, OBOC: Countertechnique, and GAGA.
In 2014, Valeria founded VALLETO, a New York-based collective of dance artists dedicated to challenging the status quo and reshaping the boundaries of contemporary dance. We embrace raw, experimental work that questions conventions, explores the subconscious's mind thorugh movmement exploration and creative risk-taking.
VALLETO has also produced biennial intensives and The Heal Project, with eight intensives so far. Immediately after graduate school, Valeria was offered a teaching position at the University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College, where she worked for two years. During that time, she enrolled in and completed a Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies at UTEP. Last year, while living in Austin, TX, she was invited to be a guest choreographer at the University of Texas at Austin for the senior students, in addition to creating the first two parts of her Eternal Bonds trilogy and producing a summer intensive.
In addition, Valeria earned a BFA in Communications and TV Production from the New York Institute of Technology, which led to a position as an Associate Producer at NBC New York, where she worked for four years. Fast forward to today: after five years of living nomadically through El Paso, Guadalajara, Miami, and Austin, Valeria is thrilled to return to her true home, New York City, to continue the evolving VALLETO, and launch new projects.
"I worked closely with Valeria on her MFA thesis and she exhibited a real passion for feminist politics and bridging different disciplines and forms of research into her creative practice and choreographic vision. Through the soul-searching process she developed a clear voice as a Mexican American artist, speaking boldly to the female psyche and experience. She demonstrated a real ease with the working process of her pieces and produced a piece of enigmatic beauty and kinetic rigor. She has an innate feel for drama and risk. Her movements can be soft and vulnerable one moment and then explosive and ferocious the next moment. Her work contains a singular movement sensibility, a unique and timely point of view that needs to be heard. As a professional in the field, Valeria is a hard worker, and is able to juggle different aspect of her life as a dance artist in the city, while maintaining a peak level of physical and creative excellence." - Rashaun Mitchel (Cunningham Trustee, Guggenheim Fellow)
In 2020, Valeria also founded VALLETO Heal, a holistic community platform for individuals from all walks of life. This platform offers embodied workshops, deep discussions, projects, and retreats led by Valeria and a diverse group of guest healers who share their knowledge and expertise in healing practices. VALLETO Heal holds various sessions and workshops focusing on healing practices such as movement, somatics, meditation, journaling, energy work, and more.
"Valeria’s curious and open minded. There is a quixotic and playful quality to her dancing that partners naturally with her focused and receptive nature in the studio. She is an inventive, hard working talent and is exactly the kind of artist that this medium needs to promote contemporary dance not only here in the US, but also in her native Mexico." - Shannon Gillen (VIM VIGOR)
CLASSES/WORKSHOPS/CHOREOGRAPHIC PROCESS
VALLETO CREATIVE PROCESS
CHOREOGRAHIC PROCESS
Valeria’s choreographic process excavates deep emotional states and memories through movement research, shapes, geometry, voice, the outer and inner world, sound, curiosity and collaborative exploration. She safely invites her dancers to be vulnerable and allows them to unveil the many layers that our collective consciousness hides.
UNPREDICTABLE BODIES
This somatic-based class invites dancers to ground themselves and cultivate awareness from within. We begin by centering through breathwork and setting intentions, gently exploring the body's anatomy through improvisation and mindful movement. As we progress, we delve into the connection between physicality and emotion, uncovering authentic reactions and deepening the connection between presence and expression. The class incorporates elements of floorwork, guiding participants to play with gravity, discover freedom in their transitions, and explore how to groove with intention and flow. Through this journey, dancers will develop a greater sense of embodiment, theatricality, and connection, creating a space to fully inhabit their movement and presence.
"Valeria pushed me to places emotionally and physically that I normally shy away from, but in the most honest and safe way where I felt entirely supported by everyone in the studio. She created a safe space from day one, and set the tone of honesty to all of us having a deeper connection and conversation every day. Her movement practices feed on the energy of the room, riding the impulse of where to push us next. Nothing she did was predictable and I love that. Instead of feeling like her (or any of the teachers) were "at the front of the room" I felt like we were on a journey together, growing together, and sharing ideas."
Intensive Participant
