About
Since the start of her career, Maria has fit college classes into her schedule. She went to community college and earned an associate’s degree while dancing with San Francisco Ballet and Houston Ballet. And now, as a dancer in Metropolitan Opera productions, Maria attends Columbia University full time.
“I had knee surgery a few years ago, and that was a turning point for me,” Maria says. “I knew I had to have something that wasn’t a physical profession to fall back on.” She enjoys sociology and political science classes and hopes to one day combine her interest in international politics with her experience in the arts.
But school is more than just a backup plan: It adds to Maria’s artistry. “I always try to find the parallels in what I choose to study and what’s going on with me at the time,” she says. For example, she tried choreographing while she was taking an English course focused on poetry. She told a story through her dance the same way she was analyzing different poems in school. “It’s like I’m combining intellectual challenges with the physical aspects of my job,” she adds. “It’s such a positive.”
Columbia Fact: The Barnard College Department of Dance at Columbia offers dancers a chance to get worldly: Dance majors take courses in classical Spanish, jazz, tap, West African and Indian dance.
Fun Fact: Maria’s mom was the first female in her family to go to college, and Maria feels inspired to follow in her footsteps.