Karla Quintero is an independent Latin-American dance artist originally from New York City and based in Huichin/Oakland. Her dance work is grounded in a cross-genre improvisation that draws from her history with contemporary and club dance, somatics, and a deep love of genre (ie. horror, telenovelas, magical realism). Recent highlights include: Flavedoom, a dance film series co-created with Shareen DeRyan which screened at the Merde Project, the 2021 San Francisco Dance Film Festival, and 2023 Thrillfest III; and choreographing for Shotgun Players’ restaging of “My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theater”.
Karla collaborates closely with creator, teacher, and dancer Belinda He. Their collaboration explores listening beyond the auditory realm and responds to a desire to build a community of practice for dancers over 40. In 2023, the pair were awarded a residency by Dance Nucleus, a hub for international exchange in Singapore and selected to share their work in New York City as part of Movement Research at Judson Church’s Spring 2024 season.
Karla’s choreography has been presented by the Festival for Latin American Contemporary Choreographers, Shotgun Players, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, the Flight Deck, Temescal Arts Center, and Safehouse for the Performing Arts. Karla has also performed nationally for the last 13 years in the works of other artists she admires, including Gerald Casel, Hope Mohr, Maxe Crandall, Alma Esperanza Cunningham, Kat Galasso, Aura Fischbeck, Leyya Tawil, Deborah Karp, Risa Jaroslow, Jo Kreiter, Kim Epifano, Robert Moses, Dexandro Montalvo, and Eric Garcia & Kat Cole (Detour Dance).
Off “stage”, Karla works for Bridge Live Arts, an equity-driven arts organization that centers artists as agents of change. While Co-Director (2020 – 2022), she co-curated the bilingual audio series “Danzacuentos: Voz, Cuerpo, Y Raíces” (danzacuentos.org; co-curated with David Herrera & Mario Ismael Espinoza) for Bridge Live Arts’ Anti-Racism in Dance Series. She also offers bilingual pilates-based care through the nonprofit the Movement Care Collective.
