Choreographer. Producer. Teaching Artist. Mother
As a choreographer, Liliana has a passion for sharing dance within her community. She has choreographed performances for public spaces, presenting dance at venues such as the Phoenix Art Museum, Mesa Arts Center, Desert Botanical Gardens, Heard Museum, Tempe Center for the Arts, The Rio Salado Habitat Restoration site, Arcosanti, The Clarendon Hotel, CityScape Phoenix, Burton Barr Central Library, Canal Convergence for Scottsdale Public Art, Unexpected Gallery, {9} The Gallery, and Palabra Art Collective. For concert dance, Liliana has choreographed original works for Arizona State University, Metropolitan Arts Institute, Central High School, Glendale Community College, Grand Canyon University, Movement Source Dance Theater, Scorpius Dance Theater, Dulce Dance Theater, and more. Liliana has also worked as a guest choreographer for theater productions and collaborated with organizations such as Orange Theater and Phonetic Spit on the Soul Justice Project, as well as ASU’s Haboob program. Additionally, Liliana served as a teaching artist with Childsplay for EYEPlay (Early Years Educators at Play), a program focused on transforming story times into spaces of active literacy in Spanish. She spent many years working with Rising Youth Theater, initially as a teaching artist and later as a choreographer and co-director for the LightRail Plays, a unique theater experience on valley metro light-rail stations, bringing performance art to the community. Liliana is proud of her time spent at Rising Youth Theater, as she believes in their mission that artmaking and storytelling are catalysts for change.
In search of using her platform to bring others to the table, in 2017 Liliana met Licia Perea, a choreographer and director of the Latina Dance Project, a non-profit that has supported an ensemble of Latinx dance artists around the country for many years. Under Licia's guidance and mentorship, Liliana produced the Phoenix BlakTinx Dance Festival, celebrating the powerful and dynamic work of Black and Latinx choreographers. Now in its 7th year, Liliana serves as the Managing Director for both Phoenix and Los Angeles. The festival, which has received state and city funding along with collaborations with local non-profits and art institutions, features sold-out annual shows premiering the work of Arizona choreographers, with a touring component taking Phx artists to LA and vice versa. Liliana is passionate about producing this work, believing that organizing and securing funding are worth it to move dance to a more inclusive, equitable place. To learn more about the festival and the artists it has presented, visit the website at www.blaktinxdance.com.
Formerly the Dance Department Head at Phoenix Center for the Arts in downtown Phoenix, Liliana created a program facilitating a variety of classes of all styles for all levels and abilities. She now teaches her weekly dance classes at Invictus Dance Project, a locally BIPOC dance studio in Central Phoenix.
Formerly the Dance Department Head at Phoenix Center for the Arts in downtown Phoenix, Liliana created a program facilitating a variety of classes of all styles for all levels and abilities. She now teaches her weekly dance classes at Invictus Dance Project, a locally BIPOC dance studio in Central Phoenix.
She has served on the board of directors of Roosevelt Row CDC and Artlink Phx, and is a member of the Artlink Artist Council. Passionate about involvement in the arts, she is honored to work and advocate for artists in the community. An example of her initiatives as a board member for Roosevelt Row includes launching the Roosevelt Row Academy, where artists get paid to teach art classes for free to the community in downtown Phoenix. The academy initially started outside, in Cloud Park on 3rd Street and Roosevelt, and later moved into the organization's headquarters. As a member of Artlink’s Artist Council, Liliana brings insight to performance art and works with the committee on how to bring more opportunities for dance artists into the world of gallery spaces. Additionally, she has served as a panelist for grant reviews for local and national calls, as well as for David Herrera Performance Company LatinXtensions. Liliana is a cohort member of the Leadership Institute for the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, participated in the National Presenters Forum at Jacob’s Pillow, and has been a selected artist for Dance in the Desert: A gathering of Latinx Arizona Dance Artists. She won the 2015 Dance Artist Award for The Phoenix Mayor’s Arts Award, was named one of Phoenix New Times’ “100 Creatives,” and was a finalist nominee for the Governor’s Arts Award in 2017 and 2018. Selected as an artist in AZ Central’s “Who’s Next” series and Phoenix's Magazines "40 under 40" in the Artist category, Liliana has been interviewed by Remezcla Magazine, KJZZ Made in Arizona, and Southwest Contemporary.
Liliana continues to push boundaries with recent works like "Caminando," exploring love, family, and migration, completing a successful mini tour with performances at Tempe Center for the Arts for Breaking Ground Festival, High Schools, Desert Botanical Gardens, Pheonix Art Musuem for First Friday and at the Hay Festival festival at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center in California. With her upcoming work, "Quinceañera: A Waltz of Memories," Liliana continues to push artistic boundaries, exploring themes of love, family, and tradition. As she delves into this new project, Liliana remains deeply connected to her community, using her platform to champion inclusivity and equity in the arts. This work is partially funded by the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, for the Artists to Work grant.
Liliana continues to push boundaries with recent works like "Caminando," exploring love, family, and migration, completing a successful mini tour with performances at Tempe Center for the Arts for Breaking Ground Festival, High Schools, Desert Botanical Gardens, Pheonix Art Musuem for First Friday and at the Hay Festival festival at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center in California. With her upcoming work, "Quinceañera: A Waltz of Memories," Liliana continues to push artistic boundaries, exploring themes of love, family, and tradition. As she delves into this new project, Liliana remains deeply connected to her community, using her platform to champion inclusivity and equity in the arts. This work is partially funded by the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, for the Artists to Work grant.
Artist Statement: I am a storyteller, telling stories that are personal, familiar and an investigation of our relationship with the world. Telling stories through movement and cross-disciplinary collaborations, bringing in objects, sound, visual design elements, or specific costumes I use are intentional and part of the story. My creative process is inspired by my lived experiences as a Mexican woman, an immigrant, a wife and a mother. Nurturing and caring for my dancers while carefully fine tuning the story we are sharing is where I thrive. I am interested in dance as a powerful art form that can bring us together and can spark feelings to bring out thoughtful platicas.
