Tina Ramirez

Tina Ramirez is a Puerto Rican/Mexican-American dancer and choreographer, best known as the Founder and Artistic Director (1970–2009) of Ballet Hispanico, the leading Hispanic dance company in the United States.

Ramirez was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1929, where her father, the Mexican bullfighter Jose Ramirez, known as Gaonita, was appearing. Her mother, Gloria Cestero, was the daughter of a politically active Puerto Rican family and subsequently became a leader in the Puerto Rican immigrant community in New York City. Ramirez moved to New York City at the age of six or seven. As a young dance student, at a time when the worlds of ballet, modern dance, and ethnic dance were largely separate, she trained rigorously in all three, studying Spanish dance with Lola Bravo and Luisa Pericet, classical ballet with Chester Hale and Alexandra Danilova, and modern dance with Anna Sokolow. Her professional performing career included tours with the Federico Rey Dance Company, the Xavier Cugat Orchestra, solo engagements in Spain, the inaugural Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy with John Butler's company, the Broadway productions of Copper and Brass (in a number choreographed by Bob Fosse),Kismet and Lute Song, and the television adaptation of Man of La Mancha.

In 1963, Ramirez fulfilled a promise to take over Miss Bravo's studio upon her retirement. In 1967, with federal funding through an anti-poverty program, she conceived and directed an intensive training program for younger students called "Operation High Hopes." In addition to teaching, Ramirez arranged performances for her young students. While she demanded professional behavior of them, she was aware that there were few opportunities for Latinos in professional dance at the time. Encouraged by the growing skill of her pupils and increasing requests for performances, Ramirez formally established Ballet Hispanico in 1970 to include a company, a school, and educational programs.

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