Join Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and Miami DanceMakers (MDM) at the museum for our annual celebration of dance inspired by artworks on view! Experience the culminating performances of three new choreographed dance works, by Cecilia Benitez, Clint T. Harris, and Erika Loyola, live throughout the gallery spaces.
MDM is an annual six-month professional development program that supports local dance makers at the early stages of their careers by offering a stipend, mentorship, workshops, and networking and performance opportunities.
Each year, selected MDM Artists are paired with local performing arts organizations in Miami that serve as creative development partners offering in-kind rehearsal space during the creative process. In exchange, MDM artists volunteer behind the scenes to support their partners while simultaneously developing skills in production, arts administration, and community engagement.
The six-month program also includes artistic mentorships, professional development workshops in arts management, and work-in-progress showings for the local community, and culminates with a live performance throughout the PAMM galleries.
Meet the 2024 DanceMakers
About Cecilia Benitez
Cecilia Benitez was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and earned her BFA in dance from Point Park University in 2020. Currently a freelance artist based in Miami, she dances for Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Adele Myers and Dancers, and Syncopate Collective. Her choreography has been commissioned by Miami Light Project’s “Here and Now” program, Pioneer Winter’s “Grass Stains”, Bistoury Physical Theater and Film, Miami- Dade County Cultural Affairs, and Mutual Dance Theatre, in Cincinnati Ohio. When not dancing, you can find her biking, writing letters, or making Cuban coffee.
About Clint T. Harris
Clint T. Harris is from Miami, FL, where he currently dances with Peter London Global Dance Company. Harris has also performed in works choreographed by Enrique Villacreses, Mike Tyus, Jamar Roberts, and Justin Rapaport on stages throughout South Florida including the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Miami Beach Bandshell, African American Cultural Arts Center, Live ARTS at Super Blue, and internationally in Trinidad and Martinique. In 2020, Harris was selected for “Grass Stains,” a site-specific dance project directed by Pioneer Winter Collective. In 2015, he was featured in the Lifetime TV Network docuseries “Step! Up,” which captured the lives of inner-city youth and their unwavering passion for dance.
About Erika Loyola
Erika Loyola was born in Guayaquil- Ecuador. She received her BFA in new classical ballet from the institution of Danza Raymond Mauge Thoniel. Loyola danced and choreographed professionally throughout Ecuador before relocating to Miami where she obtained an Associate of Arts Degree from Miami Dade College. She danced professionally with Jubilation Dance Ensemble and Olujimi Dance Collective under the direction of Michelle Grant Murray. She is also a performer with Aura Entertainment. Loyola recently presented her solo “Claim your Power” at the Asociación Ecuatoriana in Atlanta. Erika has been an Artist in Residence for Arts for Learning Miami and FIU since 2023.
