TERESA IBARRA

MUSIC | Dance

"Balinese Music & Dance" was the only course that would allow Teresa Ibarra to graduate on time. She was the last student to arrive for the first class and so she sat down at the reyong — it was the only instrument that was left. She danced with and played reyong for Giri Kusuma, Pomona College's gamelan ensemble led by Dr. I Nyoman Wenten and Nanik Wenten every semester until she graduated two and a half years later. 

Gamelan became her happy place amongst all of the algorithms, corollaries, and equations that bounced around her head. She grew deep admiration for gong kebyar's brash & precise dynamics and gender wayang's delicate ethereality. She fell in love with how the stark differences from Balinese dance to her prior dance experience challenged her in ways she didn't know were possible.

Teresa studied and performed with the San Francisco Ballet for five years and has performed with traditional Filipino, Middle Eastern, and Chinese dance troupes throughout California. She graduated from Harvey Mudd College with six software engineering internships under her belt. In her free time, she enjoys exploring music and dance genres in NYC nightlife, sculpting gel on her nails, and hanging out with her partner and dog.