VALERIA COSSU (Director, Heights) began her career as a performer at the Opera Lirica in Italy, dancing in prestigious productions such as Rigoletto, La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Carmen, Nabucco, and La Vida Breve. She toured Europe as part of several dance and theatre companies, such as MAYUMANA and Yllana. With MAYUMANA, she discovered the body percussion technique and created her own unique style that brought her to teach and choreograph in Perú, Colombia, Spain, and America. Her international experience and collaboration with excellence in the body percussion field gave Valeria the opportunity to improve her style fusioning with Flamenco, Zapateo Peruano, tap dancing and stepping. Valeria served as John Rando’s assistant director on the Broadway production of The Wedding Singer in Spain. Upon moving to NYC, she choreographed Ser o no Cer…Vantes, 2011 R.Evolución Latina Choreographers Festival, BOUNTIFUL, To Be Or Not To Be, and The Tempest. As a director in NYC, she won Best Director for the musical Discovering Magenta, and the play Until Death Do Us Part was nominated for Best Play (New York Theater Festival). Valeria joined Salgado Productions working alongside Luis Salgado as associate director/choreographer in many productions such as Candela: Fuerza y Pasión, In The Heights, Ragtime, Fame, Aida, Matilda, and the World Premiere of On Your Feet! en Español. Recently she served as choreographer/associate director in the LONJ production of La Bohème.
