Vannia Ibarguen, Maverick Award

Vannia Ibarguen is a dance artist, educator, choreographer, and community organizer whose work bridges movement, technology, and social change. She is the Artistic Director of VIDA – Vannia Ibarguen Dance Arts, and Global Water Dances, a worldwide biennial event that uses site-specific dance to raise awareness about local and global water issues. With over 180 cities participating, the project fosters cross-cultural collaboration, environmental advocacy, and community engagement through movement.

Vannia holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland and a degree in Systems Engineering. Her creative practice centers on the power of dance as a tool for dialogue and resilience, blending contemporary, folk, and interdisciplinary forms to address urgent issues like climate change, migration, and social justice.

As an educator, Vannia is Dance Faculty at Cerritos College, and Board Member of the California Dance Education Association (CDEA). She promotes somatic and body-aware approaches to dance training that prioritize sustainability, self-agency, and long-term well-being for dancers. Beyond performance, she has worked as a journalist for DanzaHoy e-Magazine, IT Consultant, and Communication Manager for the National Dance Council in Peru. http://www.vanniaibarguen.com / http://www.globalwaterdances.org