Artist Statement

My work moves easefully between the elegant and the outrageous, from the grotesquely beautiful to the beautifully grotesque, stitching together movement vocabularies that are as much ritual as they are riot. Ferociously femme with an unquiet queerness, unapologetically addicted to alliteration and unafraid of the unruly, Bianca Cabrera, (ooo! That’s me!) choreographs from a place where spectacle and substance don’t just coexist—they co-conspire. Whether spruced up in sequins, silk, sneakers or sweat, my work lives in the fierce in-between—graceful yet grisly, vamped yet virtuous, polished yet pulsing with the wild.

I make dances in homage to my ancestors. Ancestors of family and of formality, redoing/undoing it all in defiance of their dogma.  I formed the dance company Blind Tiger Society as my main conduit for choreography and performance and between 2012-2025, I created 14 full length works and many more short works, with performances, residencies and commissions nationally. I both honor the sacred traditions of dance and seduce them into misbehaving. I toe the line and then teeter off of it—trading the safety of convention for the thrill of disruption. The work is driven not by serenity, but by hunger—more Bacchus than Buddha—an ecstatic, sensuous, physical hunger for question and connection.

My choreography is built from a vibrant, chaotic, and culturally rich amalgamation: baton twirling and burlesque, ballet and ballroom, club and cabaret, camp and contemporary dance, modern and postmodern dance, contemporary and (good ol' high fucking) kicks. These aren't just aesthetics—they are languages that speak to the multiplicity of femme force, ancient anarchy and queer catharsis. I let loose my Latina—not as icon or archetype, but as a living, sweating, yearning heartbeat—allowing her to tear through tears, tropes and timelines, making dances that are at once palpable, poetic, primal, and profoundly human.

The Blind Tiger Society repertoire boasts a dance argot shaped by my devotion to whiplash contrasts and emotional authenticity. It careens from the refined to the homespun, from pointed satire to aching, embarrassingly sweet, sincerity. The physical vocabulary is unfiltered and unflinching—a kinetic dialect of desire, danger, and delight. Expect unexpected partnering, sensual imagery, and bold, unadulterated embodiment. It doesn't hide behind Metaphor; it wears Moxie like a pageant sash, like a Girl Scout’s honor pledge. It sweats through it all, strips it down, swallows it sometimes, spits it out sometimes. It probably stole someone's sweetheart and someone's trophy in Toledo. 

I don’t just choreograph dances- I cultivate atmospheres of adventure, spaces where queerness is a portal, not a category; where femininity is ferocious, not fragile; where tradition is a tool to be reforged - hot, bent, sometimes broken then beautifully rebuilt. This work bucks tradition not to take its thunder, but for truth—provocatively, playfully, and with a tongue both reverent and rebellious. My dances are the outcome of my obsession with thrusting reverence and rebellion at one another; shoving simplicity up against sophistication. 

The work summons yearning, secret, steeping or stewing. The work is dance, dream and drool at the edge of undoing, drawn in by the pulse, the pull, the low-lit lust of what we tease as the Last Supper. Tethered not by force but by fascination, taut with tension, timbre, and tremble—half dare, half devotion. Teasing at thresholds, caught between fear and thrill, lured by the frequency of fire. Binding to beat, breath, and the beautiful recklessness of ritual. Sometimes, people show up. Sometimes, they sing and late. And most always, they sleep soundly—laaaaaate.

BIography

Since 2004, I have worked at the intersection of contemporary dance, community engagement, and education—serving as a lead artist, director, and collaborator across regional and national contexts. I am the founding director of Blind Tiger Society, a Bay Area-based dance company that centers bold physicality, cultural dialogue, and collaborative creation. Currently, I serve as Director of Education and Operations at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, where I oversee curriculum development, community programming, and faculty support, while also teaching in both youth and adult programs. I am currently an MFA Candidate in Dance through Bennington College’s Low Residency MFA program and am slated to graduate in July of 2026. Through my work at Bennington, I am honing skills in academic writing, publishing and researching. While I have been setting work since 2004, between 2012 and 2025, I have been in deep study of something focused and frenzied, an ineffable obsession that I have been fingering and figuring into 14 full-length works and numerous shorter pieces, with commissions and performances presented by organizations such as The Garage, ODC Theater, ODC Youth Company, CounterPULSE, vîv dance collective, SAFEhouse Arts, Seattle Inter|National Dance Festival, Links Hall/Midwest Nexus, RAW Concept Series, Ann Schnake/Mobile InTent, Yerba Buena Gardens ChoreoFest, Sheridan College, SweetPea Festival, State oo Play and Kate Mitchell Creative. My work has been supported by artistic residencies in Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, and Wyoming, and has received funding from the Fleishhacker and Rainin Foundations. In 2014, my work was nominated for a Soul of Oakland award.

I began my training at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, later studying at the Alvin Ailey School, the Martha Graham Center, and Point Park College, before earning my BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts. Over the course of a two-decade performance career, I have worked with a wide range of celebrated dance artists and companies, including Lingo Dance/KT Niehoff, Amii LeGendre, Paige Barnes, Kristen Tsiastios, Ricki Mason/Lou Henry Hoover, Kim Epifano, LevyDance, The Fossettes, Sonya Smith, Erika Tsimbrovsky/AvyK, Christine Bonansea, Flyaway Productions, Bandaloop, David Herrera Performance Company, FACT/SF, and Cielo Vertical Arts. I am a founding member of Latinx Hispanix Danza Unidxs and served on the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards committee in 2019–2020.

At the heart of my teaching philosophy is a belief in the innate power, intelligence, and expressive capacity of every person moving in their body. My approach is grounded in the idea that dance can be a radical act of self-knowing and social connection, especially when students are invited to fully inhabit their identities, histories, curiosities, and possibilities through physical practice. I view the studio classroom as a space of rigorous experimentation, where students can discover their voice, question norms, develop technique, and foster meaningful artistic inquiry in a collaborative environment.Over the last two decades, I have taught extensively in youth, pre-professional, and professional settings across California, Washington, and Colorado, including long-term roles at Destiny Arts Center, Bandaloop, Flyaway Productions, Contra Costa School for the Performing Arts, and, currently, as Director of Education and Operations at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley. In this role, I oversee a faculty of 50+ artists and help shape inclusive, anti-harm and anti-racist curricula for over 100 weekly classes in youth and adult programs. I regularly teach classes in contemporary technique, improvisation, choreography, ballet, contact improvisation, and somatics, serving both aspiring professional dancers and lifelong movers. My studio practice is informed by the intersections of technical training, somatic awareness, improvisation, and cultural critique. Paramount to my value system is teaching students to amplify the tenor of their bodies through idiosyncratic,expressive prowess. I encourage dancers to investigate and refine how they inhabit form while dismantling fixed ideas of virtuosity which are rooted in European classical traditions. Students are asked to move beyond replication—to become critical and empowered authors of their own movement histories and futures.