Zaquia Louisa Salinas
RADFest Resident Curator (September 2026-Present)

Zaquia Luisa Salinas (MFA) is a dance artist working at the intersection of performance, community practice, and social inquiry. Originally from San Diego, Zaquia is the founder of DISCO RIOT (est. 2018), a nonprofit organization that supports creative possibilities for advancing the dance scene in her hometown. She has worked in the field of dance in various roles, including Resident Curator with ODC Theater (San Francisco) and Executive Consultant with MIDDAY Movement Series (Boston).

As a choreographer and dance educator, Zaquia is invested in movement-art as an act of reclamation and world-building. Her work engages diasporic memory, practices for collective liberation, and interdisciplinary form; she creates for stages, urban environments, and digital platforms, centering collaboration and response-ability.

In 2023, Zaquia was a recipient of San Diego's inaugural Far South/Border North award for artists working in socially engaged practice. She currently teaches at UC Santa Barbara, and in 2026 launched Ephemeral Artery to uplift skillful practice and creative project development, including a 200-hour yoga teacher training program built specifically for dancers.

Zaquia is thrilled to be joining the Wellspring team as RADFest Resident Curator and looks forward to this opportunity to support the dance community in Kalamazoo.

For more information about her and her work, visit zaquiasalinas.com.