1. Ernestina Ramirez was an American dancer and educator, best known as the founder and artistic director of Ballet Hispanico, the premier Latino dance organization in the United States.
11 Facts About Tina Ramirez
1. 2.
Tina Ramirez moved to New York City at the age of six or seven.
3.
Tina Ramirez's professional performing career included tours with the Federico Rey Dance Company, the Xavier Cugat Orchestra, solo engagements in Spain, the inaugural Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy with John Butler's company, the Broadway productions of Copper and Brass, Kismet and Lute Song, and the television adaptation of Man of La Mancha.
4.
In 1963, Tina Ramirez fulfilled a promise to take over Miss Bravo's studio upon her retirement.
5.
Tina Ramirez died in New York City on September 6,2022, at the age of 92.
6.
For each of the 75 new works she commissioned for the Company, Tina Ramirez provided top production values, regularly receiving acclaim for sets, costumes and lighting designs provided by such award-winning talents as Eugene Lee, Patricia Zipprodt, Willa Kim, Roger Morgan, and Donald Holder.
7.
Tina Ramirez drew on the resources of the company and school to create Ballet Hispanico's innovative educational program, Primeros Pasos, which provides public schools with custom-tailored units of study in dance and Hispanic culture and offers a broad range of other educational activities for the public.
8.
Tina Ramirez' enduring contributions to the field of dance earned her the National Medal of Arts, the nation's highest cultural honor, in 2005.
9.
Tina Ramirez was honored by the National Puerto Rican Forum at their 25th Anniversary Dinner.
10.
Tina Ramirez has served on the boards of The New 42nd Street, the Association of Hispanic Arts, and Dance Theatre Workshop.
11.
Tina Ramirez was co-chair for the NYC Department of Education Dance Curriculum Blueprint Committee; she has served on numerous panels, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and The Rockefeller Foundation's Choreographers Awards.