Vanessa Sanchez

Vanessa Sanchez is a Chicana dancer, choreographer, and educator whose work centers on community arts and traditional dance forms to uplift the voices of Latina, Chicana, and Indigenous womxn. Based in San Francisco, Sanchez is the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of La Mezcla, a polyrhythmic dance company that explores historical narratives and social justice through Tap dance, Son Jarocho, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and live music. A 2019 Dance/USA Artist Fellow, she is deeply committed to community engagement, bringing the often overlooked histories of communities of color to stages, streets, and fields.

Sanchez’s work has been shown on national and international stages, including the Lincoln Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Teatro Maria Matos in Lisbon, Portugal, and El Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris in Mexico City. Currently touring the US, Sanchez’s production “Ghostly Labor,” a Hewlett 50 Arts Commission, is a polyrhythmic dance theater work that delves into the history of labor in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. Her NEFA-funded production, “Pachuquísmo”—an all-female tap and Son Jarocho performance exploring the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots and the legacy of Pachucas—received the Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Production and has toured internationally.

Her film “Ghostly Labor: a Dance Film” has been screened around the globe, receiving numerous awards including El XicanIndie’s “Most Outstanding Film” and Doc’s Without Border’s “Outstanding Excellence Award.” Her second dance film “Convivencia” was commissioned by Dance Camera West and premiered in January 2025. 

Committed to accessible arts education, Sanchez offers free and donation-based dance classes to local communities, schools, and organizations. She has been a featured speaker at UC Berkeley, Teatro de la Ciudad Irapuato and the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy. She has held residencies at Arizona State University, Sonoma State University, and University of San Francisco. Sanchez served as a dance lecturer at UC Santa Cruz from 2020-2023 and is currently an artist-in-residence at Brava! For Women in the Arts.

photo by Alexa Treviño

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