Rebecca Bliss

Rebecca Bliss is a dancer, choreographer, and educator specializing in the folkloric and popular dances of Cuba. After receiving her initial training in modern and classical dance at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Rebecca traveled to Cuba several times to train extensively with members of prominent national dance companies, including Conjunto Folklorico Nacional, Yoruba Andabo, Ban Rra Rra, Afro-Cuba de Matanzas, and Ballet Folklorica Cutumba, and with professors from the Instituto Superior D'Arte in Havana.

Rebecca has taught and performed in a wide variety of settings, including universities, public art spaces, after-school programs, and nightclubs, in addition to offering ongoing community classes for six years at El Taller Latino Americano in Manhattan. Recent teaching and performing engagements include: workshops at Barnard College and Sarah Lawrence College, master classes for New York based contemporary dance company, Urban Bush Women, a six-week teaching and performing residency at the Lexington School for the Deaf, and six years as a dance facilitator at the El Puente Academy for Peace and Social Justice in Brooklyn. She currently performs traditional Afro-Cuban dance with Grupo Ara Oko, and recently appeared as a guest artist with Max Pollack's Rumbatap at Central Park Summerstage.

Additional dance training includes: African Contemporary dance with New York based artist Ronald K. Brown, Ballet with Merceditas Mañago-Alexander and Beth Goheen, and participation in several summer intensives, including the Jacob's Pillow Cultural Traditions Program, and a two-month professional training hosted by Germaine Acogny and her company Janti-Bi in Senegal, West Africa. Rebecca is currently pursuing a Masters degree at the Gallatin School, New York University. She is the 2003 recipient of the Brooklyn Arts Exchange "Pass it On" award for excellence in arts education.