GWDC is excited to continue its Scholarship Program, now in its third year! The program provides the opportunity for two emerging dance artists to attend GWDC classes for free for our winter term (January – April 2021).
This year our two scholarship recipients are Deviani Bonilla and Estephania Peña Torres. Learn more about their individual practices and what they are aiming to accomplish during their time in the GWDC scholarship program.
Estephania Peña Torres was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Cultural Management in 2016. Dance has always been a part of her life, beginning at the age of nine when she attended her first class. Since then, Estephania has practiced many different dancing disciplines, performing on the most important stages in her homeland.
Within her career as a cultural manager, Estephania has focused on promoting professionalism in dance, as well as making dance productions more approachable for a wider audience. Additionally, she has worked with local governments on research projects aimed at promoting arts development within small communities.As an artist, Estephania is in constant search of movement techniques and new creative ways to tell stories. This is why she has studied several dance techniques, such as Polynesian dance, classical ballet, and contemporary. These practices have allowed her to perform in several productions, and to participate in both festivals and competitions as part of a group and as a soloist.
“For me, dance is a different language that no one needs to learn to understand. It allows us to express the deepest in ourselves and make strong connections with others. This is why I want to use my dancing knowledge to communicate messages of peace and equality between everyone and nature; and with this contribute to create a better world.”
What are you most excited to pursue and learn during your time in GW’s Scholarship Program?
[To] expand my artistic knowledge, creativity, share ideas with other artists, merge new creations, and I w[ould] love to become part of this amazing community.
I studied Arts and Cultural Management because I wanted to get a technical knowledge about how artistic productions are managed. However, dancing has always been part of my life and my current goals are to increase my knowledge in moving techniques and ways to express with the body, find my own style, and to create new art pieces with other artistic expressions (multidisciplinary).
Stay Connected:
Instagram: @Phanypee
Facebook: @PhanyPeeña
Deviani Andrea is Latina dancer and collaborator from the parallel 20º recently established at the parallel 50º.
“I’ve been taking classes with Good Women since last fall, 2019. That was my first approach to the dance community here in the city. Since then, Good Women has helped me in different levels of my creative awareness and experience, from the deepest concerns, like finding my own creative questions; to the shallowest, A.K.A keep that body moving!”
What are you most excited to pursue and learn during your time in GW’s Scholarship Program?
I want to take this scholarship as an opportunity to keep discovering movement and also to develop more choreographic thinking from sharing and dialoguing with others. I am working towards a video-dance production and my first professional choreography, so I will for sure take advantage of the guidance and knowledge from the collective. And finally, I’m so very grateful to be back in a studio with people! I can’t wait to discover how does it feel after this time apart!
Stay Connected:
Instagram: @deviani.andrea
