LEHUA ESTRADA ・ 2020 ADJUDICATOR
Lehua Estrada, originally from Kaua’i, is an independent artist and performer who has danced throughout the US, France, Italy, and Mexico with companies and artists such as The Nikolais Dance Theater, NOW-ID, PEARSONWIDRIG DANCETHEATRE, Bryn Cohn, The Utah Opera, Cie. Willi Dorner, Ishmael Houston-Jones and Stephen Koester through akaMOFO, and Tzveta Kassabova. Her choreography has been commissioned by Valley Dance Ensemble, SONDERimmersive, Utah Valley University, Brigham Young University, Scottsdale Community College, the ON-SITE Mobile Dance Series, Dance Theater Coalition, and artist/activist Susan Kruger-Barber, and she has won notable awards for her work including her Cedar, Ash and Apple film collaboration with co-director Scott Cook. Prior to her freelance way of life, Lehua was a company member of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company where she was noted for her, “…special grace, ease of movement, and talent for communicating complex emotions.” Beyond dance, Lehua loves the mountains and the sea, and her four beautiful children; all of which inform her as a vulnerable and engaged artist, human, and educator.