Fabiola Alvarez
Actor; Choreographer; Dancer; Filmmaker; Storyteller; Visual Artist; Writer
I started my art education at the conservatory de Castella. The reason why I wanted to start going there was because I did a tour of my first art school and saw this dancer having her moment with a violin musician. My director, Mr. Arnoldo Herrera, asked me the reason why I wanted to go there. I told him I needed to dance for the rest of my life. Later on, I discovered that I was not only in love with my dance and ballet classes, but also with plastic arts. By the age of 8, my dad wanted me to learn English, so I traveled to the United States, and by the age of 14, I was already moving with him to Miami, Fla. I first got to
Howard A. Doolin Middle School (closed in 2012). My father enrolled me at South Miami High, where I was accepted into ballet classes for the Nutcracker Show and later admitted to the plastic arts program, where I gained my first experience as a dancer model for the art class. Later on, my mom came to the States, and we moved to Fort Lauderdale. There she started to work with Mr. Gary Destin, a real artist who was one of my art mentors there in Hollywood. He thought I was a good candidate to begin attending the Dillard Center for the Arts, where I met Mr. Celestin Joseph, and he encouraged me to always "think outside the box" with my art work. His first notation on my art work was "terrific," and I was mad at him because I wasn't really sure if that was a good or bad grade on my drawings. He later on explained to me that it was actually a good notation and showed me the real meaning of that expression. My sculpture teacher's name escapes me, but she was the first person who was always by my side, guiding me through every artistic step. She showed me how to do my first bust. I remember one classmate coming up to me saying, "It is the most horrible bust I have ever seen." I was deeply offended, but God spoke to my heart, saying, "That's how I feel when you say you're ugly." Mr. Celestin asked us to make a drawing of ourselves. I went home and Mr. Destin helped me by showing a new technique, and the next day I was proud of my drawing. My art teachers asked me to exhibit my drawings at the Fort Lauderdale Museum. I did it proudly, thinking that I was part of the creation, grateful for every part of my dancer body. I came back to my country to continue with dance classes and was chosen among 80 dancers to be part of Conservatory el Barco. At the end of the season, I was cast to be part of a Disney show with choreographers from Orlando, and I was chosen again among 200 Costa Rican dancers. In my free time, I used to teach dance and art classes in the community churches around me. Later, I was chosen to be part of the Nutcrackers and Coca-Cola shows in CR. Later on, I got married and had two kids. My ex-husband was not happy with me being a dancer, so I started to paint a little more, but my kids and my job at different call centers did not give me enough time or inspiration to paint. After my separation, I started to do art events with different clothing designers, offering my art shows mixing body paints and dance, and that's basically what I have kept doing while I am also working at a QA department in a sportsbook, and helping my brother at the Falcons goalkeepers agency he opened about 3 years ago, and that's where my kids, Santiago and Felipe Gomez, train in football. I am now planning to do a future event with my mentor, Gary Destin, to help an organization that helps people with cancer. I will continue to do dance shows and modeling for different photographers, along with body paint shows and art pieces of my own. My main desire is to be able to show my kids my bust and complete it with a crown I was given for dancing at one of the most important beauty contests, "Reina Intercontinental", which helps this cancer organization. I will also be working on my visa to go visit my art school, Mr. Joseph and Mr. Destin.
