Teresa “Toogie” Barcelo is a Cuban-Spaniard, nonbinary choreographer, director, and movement artist known for blending dance, ritual, and surrealism into immersive, emotionally resonant work. A first-generation American, their artistic practice explores grief, transformation, communal care, and the unseen forces that shape us through nonlinear storytelling and hybrid movement languages. Rooted in both classical and street techniques, their work integrates improvisation, structured movement, and deep presence to create physical expressions of memory, energy, and change.

Toogie’s work has been presented at The Music Center, Pacific Design Center, LA Theatre Center, and Art Share LA, among others. They choreographed the Lighting of the Sails at the Sydney Opera House with Andy Huang. Known for seamlessly adapting across disciplines, Toogie works across film, live performance, site-specific projects, and commercial movement direction, including choreographing for Adele, Alicia Keys, Dua Lipa, Tove Lo, Harry Styles, and Miguel, among others. Their commercial work has received international recognition, including being named one of Billboard’s Top 12 Most Iconic Choreographers of the Decade for Dua Lipa’s “New Rules” and earning an MTV VMA nomination for Best Dance Video for “Electricity.”

Toogie is committed to movement as an embodied archive, a means of storytelling, and a space for communal witnessing. Their process emphasizes care, collaboration, and a deep engagement with the body’s ability to hold history and shape new futures. As an artist-in-residence at the Center for Provocative Thought, they continue to push the boundaries of movement as a tool for reflection, healing, and transformation.