Felicia B Ávalos is a tejana storyteller, activist, performer, choreographer, and educator from Huntsville, Texas. Ávalos spent her last semester of undergrad (Sam Houston State University) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she began her tango training. In 2012 Felicia spent ten months training with the MASA Dance Journey in Israel where she was able to work with well-known guest artists, perform around the country, and showcase her choreography.
Ávalos was accepted into the graduate dance program at The George Washington University, where she received a university fellowship and received her MFA in 2016. Her thesis topic was on Mexican and Central American immigration told through her father’s story of crossing the Mexican border into the United States. Ávalos completed a dance residency in 2017 with Unity Space AiR in Australia, where she created her work, The Gods Are Laughing At Us: The Ongoing Water Crisis in Mexico. In 2018 she had the opportunity to work with Mexican American radical performance artist and activist Guillermo Gómez-Peña in Mexico City and perform in his exhibit, Mexican (IN) Documentado.
Felicia moved to New York City in 2018 after being accepted as a company member with Calpulli Mexican Dance Company where she had the privilege of performing at Jacob’s Pillow, New Victory Theater, Is Sanat Theater in Istanbul, Turkey, and with Mexican American Grammy award winner Lila Downs. In 2021 Ávalos was accepted into the Arts and Public Policy Department at New York University and obtained an MA in Arts Politics. During her time at NYU she had the honor of learning from well-known artists and activists Kathy Engel, Karen Finley, Anna Deavere Smith, and more. Felicia created a work titled 19,000 Untested Kits centered around the thousands of untested rape kits in Texas after the abortion ban was put in place. Ávalos was also a Hear Us 2022 Awardee where she received a grant to begin work on her immigrant fashion show, Runway to the Border. She was invited to be guest choreographer for the Theater and Dance Dept. at The George Washington University in the spring of 2023 and at Lamar University in the spring of 2025.
Felicia began performing with México Beyond Mariachi in 2022. For the past three years, she completed a seven week US tour with the company’s production of Sugar Skull: A Día de Muertos Musical Adventure as a performer and in 2024 was also promoted to Dance Captain. She completed her second season of touring in their winter production Trekking Mexico. Ávalos was also invited to San Francisco to work with La Mezcla as a guest performer in their newest production El Ahualulco combining tap, son jarocho, and Afro Cubano dance.
Felicia has presented her works nationally and internationally and since moving to NYC, has presented for dance festivals in New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Queens. She continues to research the juxtaposition of cultural and political topics with dance.