Ivan Lopez graduated from Wesleyan University with his BA in Dance. During his undergraduate career, Ivan has experienced a wide range of cultural dance forms, including Bharatanatyam, Afro-Brazilian, West African, and many more. Training under the likes of Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Prof. Hari Krishnan and Bessie Award winners Prof. Joya Powell and Prof. Douglas Elkins has encouraged Ivan to broaden his understanding of what dance can achieve. 

 

Ivan began his dance career in 2023 during his undergraduate program. After joining a hip-hop collective known as FXT, Ivan found dance to be both a safe and innovative space where movement, culture, and identity coincide. Soon after, Ivan transitioned to the classroom, where his pedagogical skills and teachings were further refined.

 

During his time at the University of Iowa, where he is pursuing an MFA in Dance on the performance track, Ivan is focused on exploring the complex, layered connotations surrounding touch through the cultural convergence of Salsa dance and Contact Improvisation. Drawing from his diverse training and his identity as a queer Latine man, the subversion of eroticism, sexuality, gender, and culture informs his artistic framework.

 

Photo Credit: @SandyAldieri