Ruth Carrera
Talent Coach & Student Relations Coordinator
Ruth Carrera and her husband, Edgar Javier Carrera established ProviDance during the summer of 2018. Ruth is a Talent Coach and Student Relations Coordinator. Her vision and passion she strives daily for at ProviDance is to build dancers spiritually, mentally, and physically. Her passion for dance began at an early age where Ruth discovered she loved to dance and the creativity within the performing arts. Born in New Jersey, her roots were embedded in her at an early age coming from a family of talented dancers, artists and musicians. As her love for the arts grew at a very young age, she dreamed of dancing. However, being raised with two brothers led her to sports in the beginning. Coming from a middle-lower class family, she did not have the same opportunities within the performing arts as others around her did, so she signed up for every opportunity of free classes and low cost training possible. While auditioning for different parts of productions, she would struggle when being selected because the funds would not always be available to continue with the part. Throughout her childhood and young adult life, she took every opportunity to learn and help her friends clean up their routines for cheerleading and drill team. She enjoyed doing this, because she loved to see the choreography of the performance in her mind and her photographic memory really helped with this. Her love for the arts and dance continued when she joined the Gymnastics Team at South Garland High School, where she received the majority of her training under Coach Sam Siedel. She also joined the Theater Club and enjoyed the manying acting opportunities she was able to be a part of. Her many years of theatre, acting, gymnastics, and dance training, in areas such as jazz, hip hop and ballet, developed her skills in learning all she could from her coaches. She worked hard for her training and would also help coach others. Her family and close friends called her “baila” which translates to ‘the dance’ or ‘dancing’ because that is what she was always doing. Ruth’s appreciation for music taught her to listen to the different beats and rhythms and grew her admiration for all styles of dance. She has always had the ability to see the details of the dance and routine and learned that it is not only about the choreography or well planned skit, but the passion, heart, skill and art behind the dance.
Ruth had several opportunities to be in commercials under the direction of Sam Siedel, her high school gymnastics coach and Health teacher. Mr. Siedel was also an actor and performer and recognized her talent and inspired Ruth to push forward, despite her financial and racial inequalities. Growing up in a predominantly white highschool challenged her on many different levels to believe in her ability. This is where her love of the Arts - Dance, Music, Theatre, Art, Instruments - really flourished. She won numerous awards in all these areas. As she matured, she continued her education in other styles of dance like Latin Jazz, Chacha, Ballroom, Salsa, and Hip Hop. Ruth believed in education and knowledge, and lived by the quote, “The more you train, the better you are.”
Ruth’s husband, Javier, actually began as one of her instructors who taught her different dance styles such as Ballroom, Salsa, Latin Jazz, and Bachata. He competed in dance and was one of the Finest Dancers in the 1990’s-2000’s. Together they created beautiful dance routines for many years before retiring. Javier, with another choreographer, created choreography routines that one of his sons actually competed with and won numerous awards as a duet partner.
Javier and Ruth strongly believe in the importance of education and Thrive. They have witnessed and experienced time and time again that dance is more than ‘just dance.’ It builds character, confidence, compassion, hard work ethic, creativity, and promotes teamwork. After their oldest daughter Jamilla was born, they moved to California in 2001 and continued their education. While in California, they had two more daughters, Sophie and Sarah, and later discovered that all three girls possessed the same drive and passion for dance. Ruth took every opportunity to join Musicals and Theatre Productions and included their daughters. She knew the experience in acting and being on stage would develop their drive and push them to want more than just a trophy. It would one day become a priceless memory, experience, and valuable life lesson they would cherish.
Ruth’s passion for ProviDance is to create an environment where the artist/dancer can train and grow in their own genre and style of dance. She truly believes her job is to nourish the dancer’s passion and help guide them on their journey. She strives to find opportunities for talented dancers and to never let financial status or race get in the way of their dreams. Mrs. Carrera strives to develop programs that give dancers and performers opportunities to train, grow, perform, and compete. She believes everyone is born with a natural talent, and her desire is to see every child get the same opportunity to learn and grow where their passion lies. She works to advance talented dancers and push them to their full potential, while creating a hard worker in a healthy yet structured environment. She has created a disciplined structured curriculum that is also filled with love, family, fun, and learning. The environment at ProviDance has led to having many champions and award winning young dancers, to include her own daughters.
Ruth wishes and strives to share all her dance and performing arts secrets with her ProviDance Family that will lead their child to reach unmeasurable opportunities when they find their talent. Her life experiences have taught her to value what we each have and possess and to understand that we are given these opportunities to share with others. She also uses her Life Coaching and Talent Skills to connect with any dancer and develop a program to their own needs that will help them reach their full potential since every individual is different.
Ruth Carrera has strived and worked to create a valuable program at ProviDance Performing Arts Center that will help guide and encourage each and every dancer to develop and grow in the direction of their talent and flourish from the inside out! Although not everyone will become a professional dancer, the skills they will learn will help them be successful in everything they set out to do. We should all live for a purpose in a positive way to help the next generation behind us.