CAROLYN BERNAL

Mexican- Guatemalan descent, Carolyn was born and raised in Chicago. She recently graduated from NEIU with her BA in Communication, Media, and Theatre with a minor in Media. Carolyn began dancing Salsa in 1997 at Le Petite Ballet School. In 2001 she was introduced to Flamenco by Michelle Nascimento. In 2004 she auditioned for and received her first scholarship with the Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Youth Company where she began her formal Spanish dance training with Dame Libby Komaiko. Since then she has studied with Irma Suarez Ruiz, Jorge Perez and Sara Samuels. Through the American Spanish Dance Festival Carolyn has studied with guest artists Edo, Timo Lozano, Carmela Greco, and Juan Mata, Ana Gonzalez, Paloma Gomez , and Christian Lozano of the National Ballet of Spain. Carolyn was added to The Dean's List of the College of Arts and Sciences at NEIU and In January 2010 was awarded a scholarship from the CMT department (Talent/Special Skills Scholarship Program, department of Communication, Media, and Theatre). Carolyn's academic accomplishments are listed in Who's Who Among Students In American Universities & Colleges.
In 2006 she was promoted to Understudy with the professional company and in 2008 was selected to tour China in the cities of Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Anshan and Beijing, following the Olympics. She is an intern with Univision in Broadcast Journalism. Carolyn is currently working on her Master's degree in Communication, Media and Theater at Northeastern Illinois University while interning at Univision Television.