Mina Estrada
Mina Estrada commits a substantial amount of time to teaching, creating, and facilitating
some kind of dance experience for herself and those who care to join. She received
her MFA in Dance at Temple University, and her choreography and workshops, which are
rooted in contemporary movement concepts and improvisation, have been commissioned
by several college, high school and studio dance programs, and professional companies
including Spelman College, Grand Valley State University, Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre,
and Todd Rosenlieb Dance. Mina has served as faculty for the dance programs at Temple
University, Old Dominion University, Christopher Newport University, and Drexel University,
among others. While teaching and choreographing at Drexel, Mina also served as the
Dance Departments concert producer and assistant director of the FreshDance Ensemble.
She is often producing shows in collaboration with other artists and contributing
dance works in festivals around the country. While in Philadelphia, she performed
in the Live Arts Festival, Philly Fringe Festival, and Collage Festival, received
the New Edge Residency at the CEC, worked with notable artists Jumatatu Poe, Silvana
Cardell, Shavon Norris, and Leah Stein Dance Company. Transitioning to the South,
Mina served as Director of Artist Resources for the Arts Council of Greater Baton
Rouge, served as faculty at Louisiana State University, produced shows and other dance
experiences with CoCo Loupe via their company CKA: currently known as, and began creating
intergenerational dances and movement workshops for folks living with dementia and
Alzheimer’s. For the past 5 years Mina has been traveling to Austin, TX to study intensively
with postmodern maven Deborah Hay to fortify her experimental performance practice.
Currently, she is teaching at Wichita State University, serves as co-creator of Benevolent
Instruction (creative modality and podcast), and is Managing Director of Harvester
Arts. Mina continues to make community building a priority with Smack Dab Dance Lab,
which creates opportunities for local choreographers and dancers to experiment, play,
commune, and share their work. When she is not busy making dance stuffs, Mina continues
to be in hot pursuit of great storytellers, generous muses, equilibrium, and more
time to pet her cats, smile at her husband, and hang out with Mother Nature.
