Niurca Márquez, M.F.A., M.A., is an assistant teaching professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Religious Studies and the Honors College of Florida International University.
Professor Márquez is a movement artist/researcher and author. As a trained somatic educator, she uses her body-centered work to service communities undergoing processes of healing and self-realization. A Latinx artist and activist on the margins advocating for silenced voices, she is particularly interested in notions of identity, cultural memory, ritual, and the body within a contemporary framework, as well as the multiple layers of communication and understanding in movement practices that lead to liaisons with political and social discourse. She has various publications on contemporary flamenco, dance sustainability, identity politics in movement practices, and religiosity in the Caribbean. She has conducted research on the Arará and the commodification of religion in Cuba, and the Camino Rojo and its manifestations in Andalucía, Spain. Her current research includes the intersection of religion, ritual, and the body, as well as transculturality, hybridity, and mestizaje as they pertain to expressions of identity and the moving body.
Professor Márquez directs Cultural Arts Exchange, an organization dedicated to artist services and programs centered on social accountability. She is also a COIL faculty fellow, a LACC affiliated faculty, and a Notable Global Learning Faculty. She is the recipient of numerous awards for both her artistic creation and her research, including the Dance Miami Choreographer's Award (2015 and 2017), the Gillman Fellowship in Choreography for Graduate Studies (2015–17), and two Ford Foundation travel grants for research in Cuba granted through the Cuban Research Institute and the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University (1998 and 1999).
Professor Márquez earned her M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean studies at FIU and her M.F.A. in choreography from Jacksonville University. She also holds a B.A. in dance and Spanish (summa cum laude) from Florida International University. Website