Salsa 'Me' Mucho

Laura de la Garza Noble is an Educational Master’s candidate in Dance Education at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education and will be receiving her teaching certificate in June 2021. Throughout her degree completion, Laura has a year and a half of teaching experience through her full-time teaching internship at Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy in Elizabeth New Jersey, and her part-time teaching internship at Elizabeth Avenue Elementary School in Franklin New Jersey. Laura is in the process of completing another half-year worth of teaching experience through a partnership with Dance New Jersey where she is developing material to teach Social Justice in Dance through creating units, lesson plans, teaching videos, worksheets, projects, and more for Dance New Jersey members to use in their virtual classrooms. During the summer of 2020, Laura was asked to be a teaching artist for the Dance Department at the Dalton School in NYC; she is also a teaching artist for NJ based OCA Dance Company.

Laura graduated Magna Cum Laude from her BFA in Dance Performance at Mason Gross School of the Arts in May 2020 with eight semesters on the Dean’s List. During her time at Mason Gross, Laura was the recipient of the Patricia Meyer Scholarship for her artistic and academic accomplishments. While completing her degree, Laura participated in the student-led University Dance Works company as a performer and teaching artist for high schoolers. Alongside pursuing her BFA degree, Laura worked as an Events and Advocacy Intern for Dance New Jersey where she was a member of the taskforce responsible for creating the Back-to-School COVID safety Guidelines ‘September Ready’ for Dance Programs.

During her four years in the Mason Gross BFA Program, Laura had the pleasure of working with artists such as Chien-Ying Wang, Paul Ocampo, Randy James, Ani Javian, Jesse Young, Robert Burke, Marielis Garcia, Kiri Avelar, Keith Thompson, Heather Favretto, and John Evans; under whom she trained in Repertory, Graham, Limon, Release Technique, Afro Fusion, Flamenco, Bachata, Cumbia, Samba, Capoeira, Kathak, in addition to a variety of other dance styles. Additionally, Laura was a performer for the Rutgers Opera during their production of Del Monde, and Lar Lubovitch during the Rutgers in New York performance at the Joyce theater.

In addition to her studies in the United States, Laura has studied Dance in London, Cuba, and Mexico. Laura was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. Before moving to the United States, Laura was a performer for artist Emilio Catalan, and radio station EXA in her hometown of Mexico City. Laura began her career as a Dance Educator while in Mexico teaching 4 to 6-year-olds at a leading competition studio named Flash Dance. Through her 14-year tenure at Flash Dance, Laura trained in Modern, Contemporary, Ballet, Broadway Jazz, Lyrical Jazz, Latin Jazz, Jazz Funk, Heels, Popping, Locking, House, Hip Hop Dance, Whacking, Voguing, and POM. In addition to her studies in Dance and Dance Education, Laura is a certified Vinyasa Yoga instructor through OM Factory NY, and a certified Barre Fitness Instructor with Barre Variations.

Kristina Kong is an EdM candidate in the Dance Education program at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University, with the expected graduation date of May 2021. Kristina engaged in her part-time clinical field work at William F. Halloran School No. 22 in Elizabeth, NJ, and completed her full-time student teaching at Clifton High School in Clifton, NJ. At both schools, Kristina had the privilege of working with students from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. Kristina currently teaches at The Dance Connection in Rockaway, NJ, where she works with ages toddlers to adults in a variety of dance styles including ballet and contemporary.

In May 2020, Kristina graduated with her B.F.A. degree in Dance Performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. While attending Mason Gross, she was on Dean’s list all eight semesters, graduating Magna Cum Laude. At Mason Gross, Kristina had the pleasure to work with and perform works by Randy James, Chien-Ying Wang, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Yin Yue, and Pam Tanowitz Dance company members Victor Lozano, Jason Collins, and Christine Flores. In 2019, she also had the opportunity to workshop and perform works by Chien-Ying Wang and Paul Ocampo in Beijing, China for the International Creative Dance Seminar. There, she immersed herself in different cultures while establishing relationships with dancers and choreographers from Taiwan, China, Florida, Australia, and Oklahoma. In 2018, Kristina performed Differences in Sections, a work choreographed by Darrell Grand Moultrie, at the Joyce Theater, a renowned performance venue in New York City. The following summer, Kristina earned her 200-Hour Registered Vinyasa Yoga Teacher certification through Om Factory in New York City under the instruction of Taryn Vander Hoop and Blair Ritchie. Kristina is currently on faculty at icanbootcamp in Dover, NJ, where she teaches yoga classes open to the public.

Kristina is a native from Rockaway, NJ, where she received extensive dance training from The Dance Academy of North Jersey in Lake Hopatcong and attended Morris County School of Technology in Denville, NJ under the artistic director, Ruth Clark.