ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | CHOREOGRAPHER
As a Mexican-American multidisciplinary intersectional feminist female dance artist, my work is deeply interwoven with my upbringing the lived experiences of navigating diverse worlds as a young adult and now in my 30s. My artistry is a passionate exploration of identity, relationships, love, rage, sexuality, the world and a challenge to the patriarchal and “machista” structures that seek to silence voices like mine. And a celebration of the intricate duality of my cultural background as a woman living in the border of the USA and Mexico. Dance, to me, is the ultimate act of liberation. It is my passion since I recall existing. It has become a dynamic platform where I assert my sexuality, confront my deepest fears and embrace self-expression without reservation. My creative process is political grounded in the commitment to amplify the often-muted voices of women, and other marginalized communities. Through collaborative endeavors, my work transcends personal narrative, aiming to unveil the collective experiences of oppression, resilience, and desire. As a survivor, dance has become my sanctuary and vessel, allowing me to heal, connect, and advocate for those with shared histories.
I create dances that break the rules, that speak to and from the body, echoing the desires, fantasies, and the very essence of my being. Each piece is a dialogue- a collaborative journey with my dancers that expands our collective consciousness and explores the intimate and universal themes of love, relationships, and human connection. Inspired by relationships, conversations, and music, my work is an invitation to indulge in new fantasies, to question the status quo, and to engage deeply with the world around us.
My artistic dream is personal and vulnerable. It is the pursuit of reconnecting over and over to my spirituality, seeking daily to forge a deeper connection with a higher force so I continue creating and finding hope in this chaotic yet beautiful world. I want to continue becoming a vessel to create things that I might not understand about myself and others in the process of creating, or until the piece is witnessed by an audience.
My process and choreography bridge connecting the intimate to the universal. It is an ode to the power of dance to heal, connect, and inspire, serving as a vehicle for personal and collective liberation and a profound expression of love for myself, Pachamama, and the humans around 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. Embracing raw, experimental work that questions conventions, explores the subconscious's mind through movmement exploration and creative risk-taking. Now, with eleven years of life we celebrate. VALLETO has also produced biennial summer and winter intensives in Miami, Austin, and New York. Six intensives so far.
In 2020, Valeria 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.
In 2023 "Unpredictable Bodies" was born out of Valeria's desire to expand progressive contemporary dance theater in places where is not available. UB is a platform that pledges to reshape the landscape of dance in different cities of USA, Mexico, and Europe. Every few months, UB invites and collaborates with professionals from contemporary dance theater, performance art, and acting to provide transformative intensive training workshops. UB mission is clear: to grow networks of dance and make them accessible for dancers, fostering unique experiences that ensure contemporary dance evolves in diverse and enriching ways.
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. In 2023, she was invited to be a guest choreographer at the University of Texas at Austin for the senior students.
Valeria has two different careers that ultimately go hand in hand with her producing experiences. She 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 three years. (2013-2016) Experiencing the fast paced news in New york, breaking news, in location interviews, worked closely with the news director, executive producers, anchors, correspondents, and reporters throughout the production lifecycle, from performing research to selecting sound bites and clips for broadcast.
Administered daily operations, including answering phones, arranging travel, ordering and maintaining supplies, and logging press conferences. Authored stories with speed and accuracy in a breaking news environment, conducting interviews in the field and updating scripts as necessary. Collaborated with producers on developing stories and with editors on cutting compelling video. Monitored police scanners, telephones, and Internet sources to gather leads on possible news stories. Produced a variety of bits, including developing “Wednesday child” news packages, editing taxi features, interviewing talent during red carpet events, assisting anchors during the Pope’s visit to NYC, and managing talent for the News 4 at 7pm show and more.
Fast forward to today: after six years of living nomadically through El Paso, Guadalajara, Miami, Austin and New York where she celebrated VALLETO's 10th anniversary- Valeria is thrilled to return home (after 18 years). She is inspired to contribute and make a difference and re-discover her purpose during the second decade of VALLETO at the place where she was born and raised.
"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)
"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
Unpredictable Bodies offers a dynamic and exploratory approach to movement. Each session is intentionally varied: some days begin with grounding breathwork and slow progressions, while others start with high-energy cardio walking, focusing on the sensory connection between the feet, pachamama and heaven. Students are guided to form connections with each other while building toward expansive investigations of movement, voice, and improvisation. Warm-ups integrate ballet-inspired structures with exercises that decentralize traditional movement patterns, encouraging anatomical exploration and efficiency. The class includes floorwork, composition, and dynamic standing movement culminating in a long movement phrase. Each session ends with a reflective discussion to deepen learning and integration. Partnering, strengthening, games, and spontaneous tasks are brought throughout the practice to keep students engaged and responsive. The goal is to spark curiosity, animalistic awareness, and creative freedom and individuality in every mover.
"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
