ABOUT THE COMPANY
DANCE MONKS (SF/MX) was founded in 1999 by Rodrigo Esteva Ramirez (MX) and Mirah Kellc Moriarty (US) while in the mountains of Rodrigo’s homeland of Mexico. They are currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, on Xučyun Ohlone lands, and in the farming community of Estancia de Canal, Mexico, on the lands of the ñäñho (Otomi) and Chichimecas. They are also the founders of Espacio 13 x 20, which will open its doors in 2027.
For 27 years, DANCE MONKS has created interdisciplinary, experimental performances and workshops—including dance, story, multimedia installations, and site-specific projects—as a transformative practice. They view art-making as a potent medium to explore the intimate and ancient relationship between body and place, rekindle our connection with the mythic, and mend the stories held in our bodies and the land. As a bi-cultural (Mexico/US) company working on both sides of the border, they cultivate spaces for what wishes to be spoken and build international bridges of care through community-responsive listening and creative exchange in response to the social, cultural, and environmental needs of these times. DANCE MONKS creates partnerships with individuals, families, and communities as foundational to their process, curating spaces, workshops, gatherings, and festivals in service of voices that have not traditionally been heard.
DANCE MONKS collaborates with artists and change-makers whose work moves through the seen and unseen worlds, or states of wonder. Their works often ask essential questions about cultural displacement and amnesia while embracing the arts' ability to restore soul memory. In times of forced or voluntary migration, what happens to the old stories and traditions that bond people with the land? How can we, as artists, create fertile ground for this wisdom to adapt and grow for future generations?
RODRIGO AND MIRAH have taught and performed internationally for over 30 years as a duet and in collaboration with world-renowned companies, including as members of AXIS Dance Company (2007–2008, Oakland), Pearson Widrig Dance Theater (1994–2001, New York City), Apostalia Papadamaki (1993–1996, Greece), Gerardo Delgado (1992, Mexico City) and Working Ground (1994-1999, Vermont). As members of these companies and as DANCE MONKS their work has been presented at major festivals, universities, and venues throughout the United States and Mexico, as well as in Canada, Peru, and Europe.
Notable engagements include The Joyce Theater (NYC); The Kennedy Center (DC); Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival (NYC); Bates Dance Festival (ME); Symphony Space (NYC); Central Park SummerStage (NYC); Dance Theater Workshop (NYC); PS122 (NYC); Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (FL); SNDO / European Dance Development Center (Amsterdam); San Francisco International Arts Festival (CA); CounterPULSE (San Francisco); ODC (San Francisco); Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (AZ); Bard College (NY); Middlebury College (VT); the University of Veracruz in Xalapa (Mexico); Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City); and FAEL – Festival de Artes Escénicas (Lima), among many others.
In addition, they have taught extensively in K–12 public and private schools and community programs in both Mexico and the United States, including founding NATURE & ARTS, an award-winning environmental education through the arts program for elementary-aged students.
AWARDS
DANCE MONKS has received grants, awards, commissions, and support from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (2026); NoVo Foundation (2024, 2025, 2026); the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (2016); the Kenneth Rainin Foundation (2016); the Zellerbach Family Foundation (2007, 2016); the Berkeley Civic Arts Grant (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022); FAEL – Festival Internacional de Artes Escénicas, Peru (2012); the East Bay Foundation for the Arts (2008–2009); The Open Circle Foundation (2007, 2009, 2010, 2013); NOHspace (2008); the San Francisco Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers (FLACC) (2020); BulbFest (2019); and D.I.R.T. Festival (2017), as well as additional sponsors and individual donors.
Community partnership and in-kind support has been generously provided by StoryCenter, The Ecology Center of Berkeley, Ávalos Farm, The Golden Rule Organic Farm, and Hijas del Campo.
OFFICIAL FILM SELECTIONS
DANCE MONKS' short film, Fire in the Mountain, was officially selected for presentation at ODC State of Play Festival (San Francisco, CA); Bernal Heights Film Festival (San Francisco, CA); the 7th Annual Festival of Latin American Choreographers (FLACC) (San Francisco, CA); The Milk Bar (Oakland, CA); and Essence of Embodiment (NY). DANCE MONKS' Rodrigo Esteva and Mirah Moriarty were also featured performers in the award-winning documentary, Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction (2010) directed by Monte Thompson which was awarded official selection at Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival, Mountain Film Telluride, Earth Vision Jury Competition at Santa Cruz Film Festival, Best Science Communication Film at Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival, Humanitarian Award at The Accolade Film Awards, and Finalist Award at the International Wildlife Film Festival.
View the Directors' complete curriculums here or download their CVs.
RODRIGO ESTEVA RAMIREZ
MFA Dance, University of the Arts (PA)
Rodrigo Esteva Ramirez is the Co-founding Director of DANCE MONKS (1999-present). He was born and raised in Mexico City, overlooking the volcanos of Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl of the Náhua peoples. Rodrigo is mestizo of Indigenous Ñuu Savi (Mixteco), the people of the rain of Oaxaca, and European (Catalonia and Italian) ancestry. As an experimental dance artist, he is dedicated to unblocking energy pathways through movement toward transformational and heightened states of being.
Rodrigo Esteva holds an MFA in Dance (2023) from the University of the Arts (Philadelphia, PA) in conjunction with Centre Chorégraphique National (Montpellier, France) where he received the Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence. He began his training in classical Ballet with Dagmar Kortum and at UNAM Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (National University of Mexico). He performed with the renowned late Gerardo Delgado, founder of En Dos Partes (Mexico City), including as a finalist in INBA/UAM at Palacio de Bellas Artes. Rodrigo studied formally at the Trisha Brown School (NYC), The Merce Cunningham School (NYC), and Nikolais and Lois Dance Lab (NYC) with support from FONCA Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (National Endowment for the Arts in Mexico).
He is a certified Shiatsu Therapist and graduate of the advanced studies program at the Acupressure Institute of Berkeley with twenty+ years of experience in this form of traditional Eastern Medicine. He studied directly with renowned author and founder of the program, Michael Gach, as well as with Kaleo Ching, Sylvia Nachlinger, and Alice Hiatt. Rodrigo is also a certified Acu-Yoga teacher, a practice that incorporates Yoga, Meditation, and Self-Acupressure. He was the primary Shiatsu therapist at Levi Strauss's world headquarters (San Francisco) since 2014-2020 and has offered hands-on healing at the Academy of Science, UCSF Hospital, and SF Children's Hospital, among many others.
Rodrigo is also an avid gardener and long-distance runner, with practices grounded in the sacred knowledge of his ancestors. He has been studying the Tonalpohualli, an ancient Mexican knowledge system/ calendar of 260 Tonaltin (days), as a daily practice as a Tonalpouhqui since 2023.
MIRAH KELLC MORIARTY
MFA Dance, Hollins University (VA)
BA Interdisciplinary Arts, Goddard College (VT)
SNDO/ School for New Dance Development (Amsterdam)
Mirah Kellc Moriarty is the Co-founding Director of DANCE MONKS (1999–present). She was raised in the mountains of Vermont, on the land of the Abénaki. Her mother is a fabric artist from a family of weavers of Slavic traveler heritage, and her father is a visual artist from a family of stone workers of Ireland, de bhunadh na hÉireann. As an interdisciplinary experimental dance artist, Mirah is devoted to listening to what wishes to be spoken: the (at times hidden) stories and wisdom held deep in our bodies and in the land, or what the old Irish called Tuiscint na Talún.
Mirah holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Dance (2014) from Hollins University in conjunction with The Forsythe Company and HfMDK/MA CoDE in Frankfurt, Germany. She also studied dance formally at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO/EDDC) in Amsterdam, costume construction at the Oberlin Opera House, visual arts and dance at Oberlin College (OH), and received her Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Goddard College (VT), with a focus in Interdisciplinary Arts in Education. Mirah's current research includes folk traditions of Eastern Europe and Ireland, including the works of Siobhán de Paor (Wild Irish) and the late Manchán Magan (Listen to the Land Speak).
Mirah's path into dance began in gymnastics. As an elite athlete, she was training every day and qualified for the National Junior Olympic team. Following a series of serious injuries, including fractures to her spine and femur, she discovered dance as a radically different way of inhabiting and healing the body. She began training in the traditional dances of the Orishas of Cuban and Haitian folklore with her mentor, Dr. Yanique Hume, and has continued training in these forms for more than thirty years. She also became the youngest member of the avant-garde, multi-generational company of women, Cradle to Grave Arts/Working Ground, directed by Hannah Dennison (1993–1997). As a company, they created site-specific performances and studied improvisation and somatics with renowned postmodernists, including Simone Forti and Liz Lerman, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen's Body-Mind Centering and experiential anatomy based on Irene Dowd's Taking Root to Fly. Mirah also performed with David Dorfman Dance and Lisa Race (NYC) in The Athlete's Project and Familiar Movements, as well as a guest performer with Meredith Monk (NYC) Into the Light (A Celebration Service). She was also a puppeteer and performer with Troupe Caravane, based in Quebec. Mirah was a dedicated student of Martin Prechtel, author of The Secrets of the Talking Jaguar and long time apprentice of Nicolas Chiviliu Tacaxoy, a respected Tz'utujil medicine man of Guatemala.
In 1998, Mirah was invited to be a full-time member of Pearson/Widrig Dance Theater (NYC) (1998–2001), performing and teaching throughout the United States and Peru at major festivals, universities, and programs.
Mirah holds a national certification in Yoga with 30 years of practice and is newly studying Medical Qigong.
SEBASTIAN KELLC ESTEVA
BA BioMechanical Engineering, Stanford University (2026)
MA Media Communications, Stanford University (2027)
Sebastian Esteva was raised in the Bay Area and Mexico. He has performed in and assisted with DANCE MONKS' productions since 2003. Sebastian graduated from Stanford University in 2026 with a BA in BioMechanical Engineering and is currently completing his MA in Media/Communications with a focus on Virtual Reality. From starting a business when he was six years old to a lifelong practice in Aikido, he brings a sense of discipline and commitment to everything he does.
In addition to working with DANCE MONKS, Sebastian has worked as a Marketing and Communications intern with Open to Debate, as a consultant with SENSA Consulting at Stanford, and a course coordinator for Mind Over Money, empowering underserved communities to flourish through accessible and relevant financial education. Sebastian also interned on the Latinx/e engagement team for EveryTown for Gun Safety, working with the country's leading gun violence prevention organization.