Denise Rodriguez
Denise Rodriguez is a BFA student at the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently obtaining her teaching certificate. She began to study dance when she was two years old and trained for four years in the Royal Ballet School System. She switched to the study the Vaganova Method of Ballet after here family moved to a new home. Denise started teaching dance as an assistant when she was 12, and became a dance teacher shortly thereafter. Throughout her years of dancing Denise studied various ballet styles as well as: contemporary, jazz, tap, flamenco, Arabian, hip hop, Irish and Hungarian dance. She trained by many teachers from around the world, and has attended numerous intensives, including: Joffrey School of Ballet , The Rock School for Dance Education, and the Bolshoi Ballet of NYC, where she was a certified student. Denise was trained by Deborah Case, Irina Vakhromeeva, Alex Ossadnik and Florian Rouiller. She also attended classes led by Misty Copeland in New York and the Martha Graham School. Her principle of teaching involves focusing on the needs of each student so they can learn to dance while developing discipline, confidence, time management skills; while improving posture, flexibility, creativity and coordination. Denise has been cast in the musical Phantom of the Opera, Carmen, Kitri River dance Concierto Aranjuez, Mary Poppins the Musical and The Lion King. She also has portrayed various principle roles in the Rio Grande Valley Ballet Nutcracker, including: Clara, Dew Drop, Arabian, Snow Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy. She made a cameo appearance as the Sugar Plum Fairy with Belles Artes in Brownsville for their Nutcracker in 2020.