“MSVA Studios’ performance group features dancers in a range of ages. The seniors led warm-ups on Saturday, as the younger dancers told NBC6 how much they looked up to their fellow performers.”
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““It’s a great opportunity for us all to be able to travel together and have so much fun being with all of our best friends,” said dancer Valentina Larrauri, “and I think being in the parade is something that only a little girl can dream of, so to be able to have that is so exciting.”
The dancers are hard at work practicing their routine. They’ll be one of five performance groups featured in the parade.
“We’ve been working really hard. We’ve been working every Saturday, sometimes Friday and Wednesdays,” said dancer Emma Arrindell, “and Ms. Suki [Lopez] just wants us to be the best.”
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A New Home For A Miami Dance Legend
“This studio has been a dream of mine for a very long time,” says Verdeja, who also owns studios in Coral Gables and Key Biscayne. “I wanted a place where the dancers could have a space like the ones I danced in when I trained in New York. I wanted to create an institution; a home for dancers for many years to come.”
New Kid on the Street Suki Lopez comes back to Sesame Street - for the first time.
Asked where her love of the arts comes from, Lopez credits both her mom ( MARIA VERDEJA ) and her grandmother for inspiring and fostering it. Her mother was a professional ballerina and got her into a tutu when she was just a toddler. Lopez took to dance and was performing onstage when she was only three years old.
'L' is for Latino: Sesame Street's 50 years of positive Latino characters
Most of the cast and crew have been with the show for a long time, Lopez pointed out, because they believe in the work. "Everybody is about the mission, which is helping kids to become smarter and kinder. It is a beautiful community, with a lot of heart.”
As part of the show’s new generation of Latinx characters, Lopez takes her work seriously. “It is fun, not only because it is a blast filming with the Muppets, but because it is so fulfilling.”
“The impact that this show has on kids is huge,” she added. “The platform I have to represent my community and Latinx people is amazing, and I will be here as long as 'Sesame Street' will have me.”
Sesame Street Welcomes 'Nina,' a Young Latina, to 46th Season
Of Cuban-American heritage, Lopez began studying ballet at age three. “I studied dance, and we did a performance every year,” she said. “I did all the talent shows, I was in the school choir. And I did a few Spanish-language commercials that aired in Latin America.”
Before landing on Sesame Street, Lopez appeared in the national tour of West Side Story as well as in productions of Singin’ in the Rain and Thoroughly Modern Millie. For the Disney Cruise Line, she appeared in Wishes, Believe, and understudied the role of Jasmine in Aladdin.
Lopez noted that the show had already changed her for the better. “I now have this affiliation with Sesame Street and their values. So I want to make sure that the values that I stand for on the show come through in my real life,” she said, “which is a good thing. If more of the world were like Sesame Street, it would absolutely be a better place.
5 QUESTIONS WITH SUKI LOPEZ on working with childhood friends
Dramatics Magazine
You’ve been acting and dancing since you were a child. What sparked your interest in performing?
“I started performing at 3 years old with Maria Verdeja School of the Arts as a dancer, and I loved it from the beginning. My dance training led me to summer intensives in New York City, and it was during one of those summers that I saw my first Broadway show, Hairspray. That was the initial spark that made me think, “I want to do that.”
Sesame Street Gets a New Latina Character, Played by Miamian Suki Lopez
“I once had somebody comment to me: ‘It’s funny — you’re so proud to be Latina. I’ve never met somebody who’s so proud,’” the Cuban-American recalls via phone with New Times. Her reaction wasn’t anger, but rather confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be proud?” she responded.
Like many others living in Miami, her family left Cuba for a better life. “My grandparents left everything and had everything taken from them only to come here and start over. The things they had to go through… They taught themselves English and started new businesses... What’s not to be proud of?”
Lopez used that memory as a foundation for her latest role: Nina on Sesame Street. “I want to make sure that [my acting] comes across that I’m proud to be Latina and [that if you’re Hispanic] you should be to,” she declares.
Shaping the Next Generation with Suki Lopez
Though she’d never planned that she’d end up on the classic children’s show, or even, given her musical theatre skill set, on television, once it happened, it seemed to make perfect sense.
Sesame Street’s seasonal shooting schedule also allowed her the flexibility to move back to Miami two years ago, periodically returning to New York for filming.
“It’s a nice little balance that I’ve found there. I mean it does get hectic, but I’m enjoying having that duality in my life,” Lopez says. Moving home also afforded Lopez the opportunity to pursue another personal passion: teaching.
