ABOUT Martha l. z. pamintuan

Martha L. Z. Pamintuan is an international dance artist from the San Francisco Bay Area, a fitness professional, former athlete, a mother and wife, and Professor of Dance at Long Beach City College. Martha earned her MFA on a full scholarship from the University of California, Irvine, and a BA in Dance with an emphasis in Performance and Choreography and a Minor in Kinesiology from San Francisco State University. Martha is the Co-Artistic Director, Co-Founder, and Co-Choreographer of LV Dance Collective. She is also the former Cultural Arts Program Director of the East Oakland Sports Center (EOSC) and Founder and Artistic Director of the EOSC Introductory School of Dance and EOSC Performance Group. Martha has toured nationally and internationally performing, instructing and choreographing in Chile, Vietnam, Spain, and Ghana.

Martha’s dance career began at Skyline High School in Oakland, California. Her dance training continued at SFSU, Lines Ballet, ODC, Shawl Anderson, and Ballet Hispanico. Her master’s thesis Experiences of Men en Pointe & the Anthropometry, Range of Motion, & Injuries of Their Ankles and Feet and 50-minute thesis documentary Men That Pointe researches male pointe dancers of Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo and former male pointe dancers of Les Ballet Grand Diva. Her research on has been cited in various journals. She also appeared on KQED Forum “Affordable Fitness in the Bay Area” broadcasting Nationally through NPR (National Public Radio). She also earned various grants for student programming and dance studio equipment including the Thompson Bliss Grant, Youth Scholarship Grants – Friends of OPR.

Martha is a versatile choreographer—modern, contemporary, Latin, baile folklorico, Spanish, Belly dance, Afro-modern, Afro-fusion, Afro-house, hip-hop, samba, and most recently Tinikling. Although Martha has taken the space to bringing ethnic dance to the theatrical stage, honoring the various cultures and people that have defined her life path with delicate and sensitive cultural appreciation; her choreographic voice also extends to classical and contemporary, and finally politically with works that capture deep rooted issues such as immigration, abortion, child human trafficking, slavery, Black Live Matter, and the water crisis to name the least. Martha does not claim to be an expert in any one form but instead an ambassador to how to proper care for cultural and ethnic dance forms and a look into real world problems through careful research and presentation.

Martha’s work has been featured in various Colleges and Universities, for the mayor’s office, LB Pride, and various festivals throughout the country. She has choreographed for music artist Anderson Rocio. In Spring 2014 and Fall 2014 Martha was awarded ChoreoProject Award “Best Choreography” for her work “Size 9”, and “Best Choreography” for her collaborative work (with her dance partner Kao Vey Saephanh) “Quest for Truth” by sjDANCEco Maria Basile and Gary Masters. Her work and her company LV Dance Collective have been awarded and selected to showcase work in Boston (2018), Los Angeles, at the 2015 and 2014 PUSHfest in SF, Boston, SF Movement Arts Festival (2015-2023), Eighth Summer Performance Festival, ODC Pilot 63, Resident Artist Workshop through SAFEHouse for the Performing Arts and the Garage, and Runner Up for Luna Dance Institute Choreofund 2.

Martha has performed and worked with Celeste Lanuza, David Herrera Performance Company, Jaara Dance, Layla and the Lotus International Dance Company, Epiphany Dance Company, DTM2 Improvisation Ensemble, Nguyen Dance Company, the Rainbow Arts Theatre, Donald McKayle, Jodie Gates, Dr. S. Ama Wray (aka Sheron Wray), Jennifer Fisher, Loretta Livingston, Pavel Zustiak, Lisa Naugle, John Crawford, Chris Yon, Grete Gryzwana, Lee Wei Chao, Stacey Printz, Jose “Hollywood” Ramos, Alicia Pierce, Dr. Albirda Rose, Paco Gomes, Susie Whipp, Wendy Diamond, Cathleen McCarthy, and Dawn James. 

Finally, Martha recently set her new work “Wisdom – A Woman’s Journey” on the prestigious Contemporary West Dance Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada which will premier Spring 2025.