Maria Loreta Celitan

Maria Loreta Celitan, founder and Artistic Director of Sol y Sombra, has studied Spanish dance both here and in Spain with some of it's foremost artists including La Tati, Paco Fernandez, Ciro, Azorin, Paco Romero, Carmen Cortes, Guito Tomas de Madrid. Besides her work as principal artist with Sol y Sombra, Maria Loreta has performed with numerous Spanish dance companies including Estrella Morena's Ballet de Madrid, the American Spanish Dance Theatre and Jose Molina's Bailes Espanoles with which she toured for many years throughout the U.S. and abroad. Her credits include appearances at the U.N., Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Town Hall, the Chateaux Madrid, Constitution Hall and the Kravis Center, Jacob's Pillow as well as innumerable colleges and cultural centers throughout the U.S. Besides Spanish dance of which she is an accomplished professional, Maria Loreta holds degrees in Art, Art History, a M.A. in Comparative Religions and an advanced Certificate in Gerontology. In dance and dance related fields, Maria has studied extensively Classical Ballet, Modern Dance, Near Eastern Dance and Bharatanatyam (Classical Indian Dance). She is a RYT and holds certification in: advanced Hatha Yoga and Cardiac Yoga from the Integral Yoga Institutes; Creative Movement for Children from Jack Weiner's School of Creative Movement and Dance Therapy from the Turtle Bay Music School. When not performing, Maria Loreta has taught Spanish Dance for numerous schools and institutions throughout the New York Metropolitan area including the Seiskaya School of Ballet, the Connecticut Ballet & the Ballet of Puerto Rico, as well as master classes for the Suffolk Community College, Bridgeport University’s Regional Center for the Arts and University of Georgia Arts and Humanities Center. Currently, she is on the dance faculty of SUNY Stony Brook where she teaches Spanish & Latin dance forms. An avid arts-in-education exponent, Maria has worked for such well known arts-in-education programs as The National Theater, Young Audiences, and Arts Connection. With Sol y Sombra , she has given programs for the BOCES Arts in Humanities Programs in numerous upstate New York, Suffolk & Nassau Counties. She has become a teaching artist for the Tilles Center Institute for Arts & Culture, a satellite of Lincoln Center’s Institute for Aesthetic Education.