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Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE)
203 N. Wabash, Suite 1720, Chicago, Illinois 60601-2417
312/870-6140 fax 312/870-6147
Described by her astrological birthday profile as an individual with "prodigious imaginative powers", Laura Saenz was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. Daughter of a Mexican singer/musician and a Danish-Australian-American educator for gifted children, she has always been interested in the arts and education.
She began to dance at age 5 due to her parents' concern of a case of scoliosis in her spine. However, dance became more than just a way to heal an ailment, and soon was Laura's primary passion in life. Her first ballet lessons were at the British Royal Academy of Dance school in Mexico City, where until age 17 she danced and performed in many theatrical presentations of the Nutcracker, Coppelia and Sleeping Beauty, as well as participating in many musical theater productions.
For her last year of high school, she was the first Mexican to get a scholarship to attend the Idyllwild Academy of the Arts in Idyllwild, California, where she finished high school and received a professional diploma in dance. After high school she double-majored in Visual Communications and Movement/Choreography beginning at USC in Los Angeles, and finishing at Mills College in Oakland. After graduating, she returned to Mexico for 2 years to choreograph for her ballet school and worked in an advertising agency
Laura then decided to follow her sister, who was on her way to study at the Art Institute of Chicago. Here she continued to work in advertising for 2 years while she trained and performed with local dancers. The new millennium encouraged her to quit the advertising business full-time so she could dedicate more energy to dance and teaching. She founded TRIO, a freelance independent Latino consulting company that now after 4 years of growth includes a music and video production element. Laura recently finished a music project with her father, which was released in the fall of 2004.
She found Telpochcalli School, a bilingual Chicago public school in the Latino neighborhood of Little Village, and became a part-time Artist-in-Residence through CAPE. She is now their Local School Council artist representative and is aiding the administration in re-structuring their arts residencies. She has designed curriculum and taught movement workshops for adults and children at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. She is also a board member of Street Level Youth Media in Chicago a non-profit media arts, youth organization.
Other organizations she has worked and/or performed with are: Insight Arts, Hot House , MOMENTA Choreography Festival, Artists and Children Create Together (ACCT), School of the Art Institute Chicago Goat Island Performance Group, 500 Clowns, PAC (Performing Arts Chicago), The Dancing Tree, NY Public Schools and AMEXPAS Summer School for Gifted Children in Mexico. An inventive cook, painter and videographer, Laura is a lover of dance, film, art, photography, music, travel and unusual dreams.