VALVERDE DANCE

Luis Valverde

Choreographer Luis Valverde is also a musician, dancer and researcher of Andean Art. Member of a family of artists, he began his career in Lima in 1991 taking his first steps into the peruvian arts under special training with peruvian Master of Music Americo Valencia and later with renowned Dance Master Edgar Meza. He has received also instruction from great musician Edgar Espinoza and master master dancer Jorge Talaviña. He has been twice Director of the legendary Conjunto de Zampoñas (panpipe ensemble) of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima where he studied and worked for several years, investigating peruvian folklore as well as visiting remote towns and villages in the Andes, learning different styles of traditional dance and music. He also has been member of the celebrated ensemble Brisas del Titicaca, the Center for Peruvian Music Reasearch (CIDEMP), the Center of Folkore of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (CUF) and participated in important festivals and artistic events.

In 2000  he moved to San Francisco as Director of Ballet Antakella in the Tradicion Peruana Cultural Center. He worked also as instructor of Andean Dance in the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts and artistic adviser for other Peruvian ensembles starting and intense activity in the Bay Area which included many performances in the most diverse venues as well as sharing the stage with Bay Area Artists such as Eddy Navia, Sukay and Pachamama, Jaranon y Bochinche, Nayo Ulloa, Lalo Izquierdo, etc.

In 2002 Valverde founded the Peruvian Dance Company, ensemble considered by specialized critics to be the most prominent peruvian dance troupe of the Bay Area. In 2004 Valverde also performed and presented choreographic works for The San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and its educational program People Like Me (with Sukay). In 2005 he was selected (along with another 10 Bay Area choreographers) to participate of The Regional Dance Development Initiative (Dance Lab) part of the NEFA National Dance Project and collaborated as panelist for the 2006 Dance/USA National Round Table in Portland. In 2007 he performed with some of the best choreographers and companies of the Bay Area for the American College Dance Festival at SFSU (Destination).

As Artistic Director of Peruvian Dance Company, he mounted 3 large productions which showcased in the Bay Area, for the first time in years, a variety of music of dance from Peru: Retablo (ODC Theater, 2004), Danzaq (La Peña Cultural Center, 2005), Golpe Tierra (Dance Mission Theater, 2006).

Member of the International Dance Council (CID-UNESCO), Valverde’s work  is permanently intended to bring the extraordinary variety of the Peruvian Dance (easily more than 5000 different dances from more the 100 ethnic groups along the Andes, the Amazonia and the coastal region of Peru) to the American audiences with the special emphasis on the staging, adaptation and performance of both traditional Andean and Afro-Peruvian Dance.

Currently he choreographes for Peruvian Dance Company (PERUDANCE) and The Pachamama Dancers and also collaborates with the troupe of Afro-Peruvian Dance Master Lalo Izquierdo. Besides giving classes and workshops he is currently working on the publication of his book “Tusuy, The Universe of the Andean Dance” (2005).