Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Frances Machala Cerro - Season 18, Episode 186

Frances Machala Cerro Grew up in Cumberland, Wisconsin, graduated from St. Catherine’s College in 1965. She met Loyce Houlton there in 1963 when Mrs. Houlton began teaching at St. Catherine’s. Loyce Houton had started the Contemporary Dance Playhouse in Dinkytown by the U of M campus. It was an old Masonic Temple above a Cleaners that later burnt down. Mrs. Houlton took Frances under her wing and studied, taught and performed with the Contemporary Dance Playhouse, later the Minnesota Dance Theater until 1972. Some of the choreographies she was principal dancer in were: Chronicles, Audition, Bone Lonely, and Troth. She was in the 1 st Nutcracker Fantasy done at the Moppet Theater and later at Northrup auditorium in many roles. Mrs. Houlton brought in many teachers at that time, she took classes from Graham teachers, Francois Martinet and Madame Pereyaslavec.She performed twice at Jacob’s Pillow and in Spoleto, Italy where the company went to learn Glenn Tetley’s “Mythical Hunters”. In 1972 She married Ramon Cerro and lived in Santa Fe, Argentina for 14 years. There she started a school and company called” La Escuela de Danza Contemporanea”. They performed in Santa Fe, Argentina and in many small towns in the area. She had the privilege of working with the “Orquesta de Provincia de Santa Fe” many times, including choreographing “Peter and The Wolf” and Vivaldi’s “Gloria” with 3 choirs. The family returned to the United State in 1986 and moved to Tulsa Oklahoma. There, with other dancers started the Local Motion Foundation to bring in Modern Teachers and choreographers. She worked in the Lincoln Center Institute program for Art in to the Schools.

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