Overview
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.