Celeste Lanuza Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance 2020-2021

W&L Dance Studio - 109 South Jefferson Street - Rm. 125
540-464-1710
clanuza@wlu.edu
Website - Curriculum Vitae

Celeste Lanuza is a multidimensional creative and performing artist based in NYC, and works collaboratively in concert, theater, and commercial pieces to re-identify Latinx culture perspectives to authenticate representation. Her creative work explores advocating for immigrant rights, BIPOC equality, amplifying underrepresented individuals to challenge racial stereotypes, and encouraging collaboration across disciplines to create dance-theater original work. Her career spans TV, film, concert and commercial dance, musical theater, opera, and music. Lanuza has been recognized in Dance Teacher Magazine (2016) as a Repetiteur for classical modern dance repertoire by her mentor Donald McKayle. Lanuza is currently completing her Ph.D. in performance studies at Texas Woman's University through their Low Residency program under a Graduate Scholarship finishing in 2024. Lanuza's trajectory from a community activist to a fearless artist is ready to unfold at W&L, debunking the gap between education, the arts, and social justice.

Education

MFA dance choreography, The University of California Irvine

Full Tuition Fellowship and Travel Research Grants (NYC, Mexico City)

BFA dance and musical theater performance, The University of the Arts

Artist Grant Scholarship

Research

Lanuza is interested in advocating to dismantle inequalities in education, building equity in the classroom, actively deconstructing racial injustice in curricula and artistic endeavors, and empowering female voices to be heard as leaders. Her teaching, scholarship, and creative work focus on Mexican-American identity overcoming language barriers, assimilation, and discrimination, now more recently towards violent silence topics. Lanuza will direct and choreograph for the fall and winter concerts to develop a collaborative multi-media project driven by social injustice and healing themes. She will also devise and perform a solo piece to embody Latinx women's perspective, expressing complex current interwoven realities deconstructing stereotypes to discover unique experiences through restoration in a quest for truth honoring ancestral heritage.

Teaching

DANC 225-01 Intermediate Contemporary Modern Dance Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:30-12:00
DANC Dance History
DANC 110-01 University Dance, Tuesdays from 6:00-7:30
DANC Special Topics: Dance Film
DANC 390A-01 Special Topics: Latin Jazz Dance

Selected Publications

“Now” Immigrant Rights Film, Chicano Park Museum Collaboration San Diego, CA
“Desert Serenity” Flamenco Dance Film
“Eres Como el Viento” Gigi Dance Company, Jakarta, Indonesia

Professional Productions Stage Director, Choreographer and Principal

PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTIONS STAGE DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER & PRINCIPAL

Fort Worth Opera, Maria de Buenos Aires, by Astor Piazzola, 2018
Maria de Buenos Aires, by Astor Piazzola, Staunton Music Festival, 2019
San Diego Repertory Theater, The Desert Rose, 2020
Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center, Camino Al Alma, NYC, 2019
New York Fringe Festival, Off Off Broadway, 2019
The Guthrie Theater, Mainstage, Camino al Alma, 2018
Laguna Dance Festival, In Lak Ech, 2015
Laguna Dance Festival, Celebración, 2015
Salvatore Capezio Theater, NYC, The Other Me, 2019
Lula Washington Dance Theater, Los Angeles, Taste of Soul Festival, 2016
San Diego International Fringe Festival, Camino Al Alma, 2014
San Diego Dance Theater, Live Arts Fest, Camino Al Alma, 2015
The Green Room 42, New Works Series, The Desert Rose, NYC, 2020
Feinstein’s at Vitello’s, One Woman Show, 2017

ACADEMIC PRODUCTIONS DANCE & MUSICALS

Angelitos Negros by Donald McKayle, San Diego School of Creative & Performing Arts, 2013
The Wiz, San Diego School of Creative & Performing Arts, 2013
Camino al Alma, MFA Thesis Concert, The University of California Irvine, 2013
Jose Limon Tribute, Arc Pasadena, 2016 Los Angeles County High School for the Arts
Dulce Obsesión, Film, Long Island High School for the Arts
San Diego State University, Calexico, 2014-2017

COMPOSITIONS

Modern Dance Composition, UC Irvine
San Diego Repertory Theater, Amigos del Rep
LA Music Award Nominee, Arranca Album
NPR Tiny Desk Featured Latinx Singer-Songwriter
Jazz 88.3 Featured Speaker & Songwriter
NYC Musicians, Spotify Playlist

COLLABORATIONS

San Diego Opera, Maria de Buenos Aires, 2018
Arizona Opera, Maria de Buenos Aires, 2018
Broadway Dance Center, Symphony Hall, Puerto Rico Benefit, 2017

Select and Upcoming Productions

SELECT PRODUCTIONS

PBS Emmy Award Winning Film Fuego, Soloist, 2018
Radio City Music Hall, NBC Universal, Vocalist & Movement Collaboration, 2018
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Choreographic Collaboration, 2019
Latino Commission on Aids, Choreographic Collaboration, 2017
Lula Washington Dance Theater, Guest Artist, 2017
The Guthrie Theater Film & Production, Soloist, West Side Story, 2020, 2018
Old Globe Theater, Guys & Dolls, Soloist, 2017

UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS

The Desert Rose, The San Diego Repertory Theater, Co-Writer