Alicia Díaz

As a Puerto Rican contemporary dance artist in the diaspora Alicia Díaz’s work speaks to issues of memory, colonialism, and the legacy of slavery. Her innovative collaborations with percussionist Héctor “Coco” Barez engaged Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba as a point of reference to investigate embodied forms of resistance, healing, and liberation. She directed the dance film, Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance Shall Not Be Moved, weaving stories of anti-colonial and feminist activism through the history of tobacco in Puerto Rico and Virginia, receiving numerous awards including Vanguard Award for Outstanding Experimental Film at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, Best Experimental Film at the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival, and 1st Place Original Music at the Utah Dance Film Festival. Alicia was recently featured in the ground-breaking book, Inhabiting the Impossible: Dance and Experimentation in Puerto Rico (University of Michigan Press), and was part of la convivencia the first residency of movement-based Puerto Rican artists at MANCC, the renowned national center for choreography at Florida State University.

Alicia has performed with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Andanza: Puerto Rican Contemporary Dance Company, Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, Sally Silvers, Marion Ramírez, and Alejandra Martorell amongst others. She has co-directed Rubí Theatre, a Latinx, intergenerational theater ensemble; en la brega dance company, with Puerto Rican dance artist Ñequi González; and Agua Dulce Dance Theater, with movement artist Matthew Thornton, creating works for concert dance, museums, and site-specific locations. Her choreographic work has been presented in the USA, Spain, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, and Mexico.

Alicia holds an MFA in Dance from GWU. She joined UR in 2011 where she teaches contemporary dance, improvisation, choreography, and community-engaged courses centered on dance for social change. She is deeply engaged in interdisciplinary collaborations engaging the arts in the urgent fight for climate justice. She received the 2020 Community-Engaged Scholarship Award from the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, recognizing her work with the Tucker Boatwright Festival: Dancing Histories, This Ground’s commission of Brother General Gabriel, co-directed by Free Bangura and MK Abadoo, and the collaborative video project "Knowledge of This Cannot be Hidden" Westham Burying Ground Commemorative Act, on the history of the unmarked burial ground for enslaved people at UR. Alicia serves on the Board of Pepatián: Bronx Arts ColLABorative, an organization that supports Latinx, Black, Afro-Latinx, Caribbean, Latin American, and indigenous artists.