Vanessa Hernández Cruz

Hi Friends! Being a freelance artist is one of the most intense ways of navigating the dance field and arts in general especially as a Disabled Artist! in a way this is also questioning how are we continuing to elevate and support Disabled artists? The past few months have been so fruitful and exciting but also wild while trying to navigate my capacity with work and mitigating intense migraine flares, that I had to drop the ball on fully prompting the work that I offer to secure work opportunities for the next 2 months. If you have time/capacity, I invite your support by simply sharing this and or anything else on my IG! While I’ll be okay, I don’t want to get to a point where it’s an urgent ask 🌻 I deeply appreciate you all! I’ll be posting what I have been up to these past few months soon! [Image Description: a graphic with a black background and white text that reads: Hi Friends, I’m a Disabled freelance dance artist based in LA. Currently looking for paid dance gigs, collabs, choreography, accessibility/Disability Justice consulting opportunities for the next few months! Please hit me up and/or uplift my work 💖] #Dance #Artist #Freelance

We are so excited to welcome our second facilitator NYALLAH for Echoes of the City: Disability Arts Exchange!!! ✨Join us on May 23rd for our second Spring 2026 hybrid workshop: Memory Maps in Sound: A QTBIPOC Disabled Songwriting Workshop Facilitated by NYALLAH ✨ 10am-12pm PST In-person location: The Music Center Virtual location: Zoom About this workshop: This 2-hour workshop invites QTBIPOC disabled artists to explore memory, identity, and liminal spaces through songwriting and sound. Participants will create “memory maps” — using lyrics, voice, rhythm, or improvisation to chart personal stories, ancestral echoes, or imagined futures. The process emphasizes experimentation, embodiment, and collaborative sharing, encouraging participants to engage at their own pace. Activities are adaptable to diverse abilities and sensory needs, allowing participants to contribute vocally, instrumentally, or through writing and drawing. No music experience necessary! About NYALLAH NYALLAH is a Black trans creative producer, musician, and organizer whose work centers sound, writing, and embodiment as tools for expression and community building. They are the founder of NOIR AT NITE, a live music and arts platform dedicated to centering Black queer, trans, and femme artists while prioritizing accessibility, ethical compensation, and inclusive creative spaces. Through programming, mentorship, and performance, NYALLAH cultivates intergenerational connection, collective care, and creative experimentation. Register below: In-person registration: https://bit-ly/Echoes_In-Person Virtual Registration: https://bit.ly/Echoes_Virtual General Inquires [email protected] “Echoes of the City: Disability Arts Exchange” community engagement component of Vanessa’s dance project “Echoing Memories in a Distant Future” was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. This is in partnership with The Music Center @musiccenterla and Los Angeles Spoonie Collective @la.spoonie.collective & Gender Justice LA Image Descriptions are in the comment section and alt text is available

JOIN US TODAY!!! I’ll be teaching this evening 💖 Giving back to an organization that has felt like home from the beginning 🥹🌻 🙌🏾Check out the AMAZING LINE UP for Pieter’s First 💃🏽Dance - Class - A - Thon💃🏽 ➡️Swipe for teachers and schedule 🔗 Tickets at link in bio 🥳Limited $15 tickets available! [Image Description 1: a graphic with a sunlit wood floor background. In the center is a photo of Vanessa posing on the floor. The text reads: 6:30-7:15PM CYBER REALMS: A MOVEMENT IMPROVISATION PRACTICE W/ VANESSA HERNÁNDEZ CRUZ PIETER DANCE - CLASS - A - THON MAY 16TH] [Image Description 2: a a graphic with a sunlit wood floor background. In the center is a collage of all the different dance teachers. The text reads: “DANCE ALL DAY AT PIETER: DANCE - CLASS - A - THON MAY 16TH]

❗️TW: Glitches throughout the film❗️ Omg I made this 3 years ago! 💖 releasing this out into the world now 🌻 “Los Portales del Corazón” ​ Director, Choreographer & Dancer Vanessa Hernández Cruz ​ Cinematographer & Editor Letxia Cordova @letxisadancer ​ Music & Sound by Damian Nguyen @sanjuroboe “A Step Within” ​ Follow Artists Instagram: Vanessa: GalaxiesDance Letxia: Letx_ia_ Damian: Sanjuroboe ​ Special Thanks To: Reseda Parks Tarzana Community & Cultural Center ​ ​ This film was made possible by a commission from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. ​ Many thanks to DCA’s Performing Arts Division @dca_performingarts , the Los Angeles Dance Worker Coalition, and City of Los Angeles Council District 2 and Council District 3 for their generous support.

I am here. We are here. I decided to make a post about this comment I made. It is important. My dance work runs deeper than creating to just be seen. It’s always questioning, who is not in the room with me and why? I’m posting this to call in our disability community to reflect what actually is liberation for you? If that’s even in your agenda? Because if it’s not, please don’t compare race and disability, don’t name other cultures in your analysis. Unless you are here to uplift us. I invite us all to reflect. With the current administration, take look who is being left behind as we speak. IT REALLY IS THAT DEEP. [Image Description 1: a graphic with a black background with text that reads: From a comment I made from on an article about Disability and Dance: “Oh that’s so interesting, there is nuance here that requires more disability Justice perspectives. I think also thinking about who is being uplifted in Disability Dance. As a Disabled Chicana artist, I often find that there are still majority of white disability dance being uplift in funding especially those who can assimilate to nondisabled movement aesthetics. It’s interesting to compare race and disability when for those of who are navigating intersecting identities can’t separate them into what gets visibility in the dance field and in one’s own work. My culture is an embodiment and how I show up in the world. It’s not only visible through music but the ways my voice carries an accent, the way I walk, interact with my own latiné community. It’s so much deeper.”] [Image Descriptions continue in the comments] #DisabilityDance #Dance #Artistry #Performance

DANCE - CLASS - A - THON! SATURDAY MAY 16th💃🪩💃🪩 UPDATED SCHEDULE IN SLIDE 2. DONATE TO RSVP IN OUR BIO. $15 discounted donation (limited tickets) = 1 class! $35 donation = 1 class! $60 donation = 2 classes! $100 or more = 3 or more classes! Drop-In day of is welcome! RSVP (via donation) is encouraged!! Tickets available online & at the door! At Pieter, no one will be turned away for lack of funds - we encourage you to donate what you can and dance as much as you can

Uplifting the Invisible labor that happens as a Disabled Artist. Having to do additional research to ensure that I will be able to fully participate in any opportunity/residency/gig. It gets even more frustrating when a venue’s phone number doesn’t lead directly to the actual venue’s office. Then I have to email to ask if it’s accessible meaning I have to wait to see if I should even apply. The catch is when there is an application fee……. Yeah I just don’t. I automatically assume opportunities don’t expect disabled people to apply, since it doesn’t list how said opportunity is accessible. I don’t always trust when there is a blanket statement saying a venue is accessible because they usually only mean for disabled audiences not for disabled artists (like the dressing room, access to the stage, backstage area etc…). Mind you this kind of labor isn’t new to me by any means. We are talking a lifetime of doing this kind of research even outside of work. I just caught myself feeling frustrated today needing to do all that research. * I don’t apply if there is an audition/application fee. That’s a hard boundary I have especially if they have me looking up the theater/venue’s accessibility. [Image Description: a graphic with a black background with white font: That moment when I have to look up a venue to see if it’s accessible for the performing artist not just for audiences. Better yet having to call cause the website doesn’t have enough information. This determines if I apply to said opportunity. Reminder it’s a privilege to apply to things without having to worry if you can even enter the building. Disabled people shouldn’t have to be the only ones advocating for accessible spaces. #DiariesOfADisabledArtist @GalaxiesDance ] #DisabledDancer #Dance #ContemporaryDance

Feliz día de las Madres!!! Te quiero muchísimo!! Gracias por ser la mejor mamá y por todo el Apollo que nos as dado!!! Ya mi anda para más aventuras y para viajar más!! 💖💖💖💖 Te amo mami 🥹🥰🥰🥰🥰

I’m so excited to be a part of this important conversation along all these incredible artists! I’ll be joining in virtually 🌻💖 Repost from @movementresearch • 📚 Studies Project: When Disabled Embodiment Is the Center: An Open Discussion on Pedagogy, Access, and the Body as Knowledge with Kayla Hamilton @kayla_hamilton903 Learn more and RSVP by visiting our website: /events/1433/ or click on the #linkinbio When: Tue, May 12, 2026 | 6:30-8pm Location: MR Studios, 122CC (150 First Avenue) Price: Donation-based ($5 suggested) | Spaces are limited and RSVP Required! Organized by Kayla Hamilton with participants Vanessa Hernandez Cruz, Anaís Gómez, and Parker Ramirez. **Please note: Masking will be required for this event. Masks will be available at the door.** About the event: What happens when disabled embodiment isn’t pushed to the edges, but becomes the starting point? This open discussion invites artists, educators, and practitioners to come together and talk about disabled ways of moving, sensing, adapting, and knowing as powerful ways of teaching and learning. Instead of treating access as something extra, we’ll explore how disabled embodiment can shape how spaces, practices, and classrooms are designed in the first place. This is a space for sharing experiences and reflecting together on what changes when we lead from lived experience rather than fixed rules or assumptions. About the artist: Access. Movement. Play. (A.M.P.) Residency Director Kayla Hamilton is a Leo Sun with Aquarius Rising and Moon, which means she’s always speaking in draft, dreaming big, and sometimes confusing people mid-sentence. A Bronx-based choreographer, educator, and Bessie Award-winning artist, Kayla loves the WNBA (NY Liberty + Indiana Fever fan), protein coffee, and self-help TikTok’s. She grew up in Texarkana, TX, the oldest child and only daughter in a CME church family, and spent 12 years as a NYC public school special ed teacher before striking out to build her own path. Image Description in comments

I’m dusting off my teaching cap Saturday 5/23 for Memory Maps in Sound, in partnership with @musiccenterla @genderjusticela + @la.spoonie.collective 🌀🎵 A songwriting + creative writing workshop centering QTBIPOC disabled artists—thinking through memory, liminal space, and the sounds we carry. Grateful to be part of @echoesofthecity.art + to @galaxiesdance for including me 🫂 🗓️ Saturday, May 23rd ⏰ 10am-12pm PST 📍 In-person @musiccenterla + virtual 🎟️ Free (RSVP in bio) Would love to be in space with y’all 🫶🏾 #explorepage #reels #workshop #music

WOW!! We launched our first workshop ever for Echoes of the City: Disability Arts Exchange!! And what a powerful way to open up our arts initiative by having the incredible Glow facilitate their beautiful and grounding alter workshop: Glow in Community: Intention-Setting & Shared Altar Ritual!!! THANK YOU so so much Glow for sharing your incredible workshop with us!!! We are excited to share the alter that we made to together next year!!! Thank you so much to our in-person and virtual participants for being in community with us!!! Special Thank You to Jocelyn our Admin @thejoegarcia , Angie our Access Doula @angiefromtheblockk , The Music Center @musiccenterla , Los Angeles Spoonie Collective @la.spoonie.collective , & TMC Guest Services, New England Foundation of the Arts @nefa_1976 for your support!!! Next up with have “Memory Maps in Sound: A QTBIPOC Disabled Songwriting Workshop” workshop Facilitated by NYALLAH on May 23, 2026 from 10am-noon PST! @n.yallah Register via the link below or on our linktree! https://linktr.ee/Echoes_of_the_City Stay tune for our summer workshop lineup coming soon!! #TheMusicCenter #Echoes #Community #Disability [Image Description 1: a photo of Glow (facilitator middle), Angie (Access Doula Left), Vanessa (Curator Right) posing together inside the Music Center’s office.] [Image Description 2: a photo of a laptop with the screen showing a slide with words from the participants of their intentions for the workshop. Words include: Togetherness, community, peace, allowing, hope, groundness] [Image Description 3: a sticker of “Echoes of the City: Disability Arts Exchange” that has a futuristic city at night as a background] [Image Description 4: a video clip of the registration table that has a holographic pink cloth table, flyers, Covid Tests, name tags, stickers, & fidget toys] [Image Description 5: a collage of various images and clips of the workshop. The top has an image of the alter with various flowers, herbs, metals. Below is an image of Angie, Glow, & Vanessa posing together. ]

✨49 under 49 Award Celebration is Happening✨ @csulbdance @csulbcollegeofthearts @csulbalumni