Victor Manuel Ruiz (Co-Artistic Director) 

A dancer, choreographer, teacher and lighting designer, Victor Manuel Ruiz has been praised both nationally and internationally. The clarity and poetry of his choreographic works and lighting design has earned him critical praise in cities of Latin America, North America, Asia and Europe.  He studied with the Escuela Nacional de Danza, Centro Superior de Coroegrafía in Mexico City. He joined Danzahoy of Venezuela and danced with the company for 7 years. 

Victor Manuel Ruiz co-founded Delfos Danza Contemporanea in 1992 with Claudia Lavista in Mexico City, Mexico and the newly formed  company won the National Dance Award that same year. He has been the lighting designer for almost all of Delfos’ productions in addition to creating lighting design and choreographing for companies throughout Mexico and internationally.  In 2002 and 2005 he was the recipient of the National Dance Award for Best Lighting Designer from INBA-UNAM  and has received numerous fellowships from Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA) for his choreography including a scholarship for Scenic Creator with Outstanding Trajectory.  Victor Manuel is also co-director and teacher of the Mazatlán Professional School of Dance. 

Victor Manuel Ruiz, one of the greatest choreographic talents in the country.

— Rosario Manzanos, Proceso Magazine, Mexico City, Mexico

Claudia Lavista (Co-Artistic Director)

A dancer, choreographer and teacher, Claudia Lavista began her studies in music and theater at the age of eight.  She subsequently studied dance at the Sistema Nacional para la Enseñanza Profesional de la Danza del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.  In 1987 she joined the dance company U.X. Onodanza and later joined Danzahoy Dance Company  of Venezuela.  In 1992 she co-founded Delfos Danza Contemporanea with Victor Manuel Ruiz.  She has received awards for her artistic works including the National Dance Award in 1992, Best Female Dancer-National Dance Awards in 1998 and 2002, and Best Female Dancer at the International Dance Festival of San Luis Potosí in 2005.  In 2001 the Mexican press selected her as one of the 10 Best Dancers of the XX Century. In 2007 she was invited as International Visiting Artist at the 25th Bates Dance Festival, and she returned as a teacher and faculty member to the festival in 2010 and 2011.  In 2008 and 2011, Ms. Lavista became a member of the National System of Arts Creators, honored by CONACULTA and Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA).  In 2011 she received a Mellon Residential Fellowship for Arts Practice and Scholarship at the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago. Her work has been praised by critics and presented in America, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Europe.  Claudia Lavista is also co-director of the Mazatlán School of Professional Dance.    

If we want to talk of the great figures of Latin American Contemporary Dance, the name of Claudia Lavista is unavoidable. 

— Valerio Cesio, Por la Danza Magazine, Madrid, Spain