Meet Zarina Mendoza Orduno

We were lucky to catch up with Zarina Mendoza Orduno recently and have shared our conversation below.

Zarina , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience stems from having no other choice and having the right people to support you. No one becomes resilient without a community to uplift them. I don’t know if I’m resilient enough, but I’ve bounced back from many adversities from a very young age.

I was born in Mexicali, Mexico, a small border town near California. From a young age, my parents wanted me to learn English and study or travel abroad to have more opportunities in life. I attended the first grade of elementary school, learned to read and write in a public school in Mexicali, and in second grade, my parents signed me up in a Catholic school in Calexico, California, to learn English. Every morning, I crossed the border on foot with my father beside me. I hated carrying my backpack everyday before and after school. In second grade everyone knew how to read, write and speak English except me. The kids constantly made fun of me and bullied me. At just seven years old, nobody would speak my language because it wasn’t allowed. The only people who spoke Spanish to me occasionally were my teacher, Ms. Ortiz and the cleaning lady. Every time I was caught speaking Spanish, I received detention. I felt stuck, how was I supposed to communicate if I didn’t know English?
My parents soon signed me up for after-school classes to improve my skills. I attended school from 7 am to 3 pm, took classes from 4 to 6 pm and then came home to do my homework, which took forever because my parents knew little English. By the end of second grade, I could speak and somewhat write in English, but it took many days, nights, weekends and the support from my parents and teachers to get there.

By seventh grade, I returned to school in Mexicali, and it felt like the same struggle all over again, but in reverse! I had barely learned to read and write in Spanish when I was sent to Calexico to learn English and never used it again in an academic way just at home. When I returned in seventh grade to Mexicali, I was reading and writing in Spanish like a six-year-old, it was bad, just imagine an 12 year old girl reading like a first grader! In Spanish class, my classmates made fun of me because I read very slowly and struggled with spelling. Writing essays was the hardest, again my family helped a lot, reviewing my homework and correcting any misspellings. I was constantly bullied with classmates calling me “ella es bien burra,es bien floja por eso reprueba” (meaning I was lazy and dumb). Every day after school, I cried and begged my parents to take me back to my former school because I hated my current one. It was such horrible being a teenager with so many changes/insecurities who was constantly mocked,made fun and mistaken for being dumb.
It wasn’t until I joined the cheerleading team that I found a group of girls who respected and supported me. The bullying stopped, and I felt more confident about myself.
I have so many more stories about how my resilience was shaped over the years. Ever since I was young, resilience wasn’t just a choice—it was my only option. And in a way, that made me who I am today. Having people who loved and supported me throughout the entire process truly changed my life. Their support made all the difference.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Zarina Mendoza is a passionate artist, a Mexican immigrant with a desire to share knowledge, experiences and culture through movement. She has a BFA in dance and has been teaching for more than 10 years at International Festivals in Asia, Mexico and the US and to professionals in the AZ community. Zarina is the founder, choreographer, and director of Tranze Danza Contemporanea, a dance company that has been showcased at prestigious international festivals across South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Costa Rica, the United States, Taiwan, and Mexico. Her work has won critical acclaim and overwhelming responses from audiences and critics; Her movement is inspired by theatre, improvisation, acrobatic movement, floorwork, flying low and basic capoeira techniques. With her dance company she actively cultivates a community that sparks meaningful conversations; her work prompts introspection on themes of identity, immigration, empathy and solidarity, inviting individuals to engage deeply with these significant subjects.
Zarina is also the producer of Mitote Dance Intensive, a contemporary dance workshop that brings Mexican artists to share their knowledge with professional dancers in Arizona. She works as a program’s assistant at Tempe Community Arts and serves as the Studio Manager and Artist Support for nueBOX a non-profit organization that provides resources for BIPOC artists. Zarina is actively involved in teaching various disciplines, including Latin Dances, Contemporary and Yoga practices. Beyond her teaching commitments, Zarina remains engaged in performances as dancer and collaborates with talented artists in Mexicali, Phoenix and Tucson while simultaneously pursuing independent choreography projects.

You can find more information about zarina’s endeavors at www.zarinamendoza.com and learn more about her dance company at www.tranzedc.com

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Understanding project management was key to landing many of my most important performances, allowing me to travel the world and expand my skills. Another area of knowledge was economics and mathematics, the numbers have to add up at some point. You need to be clear about your ideas and support those ideas with the right numbers, whether it’s researching, funding from organizations, your own funding, or fundraising. Having those numbers down is crucial.

Another essential quality is resilience. In this world, you will face a lot of rejection, so you must become comfortable with being constantly turned down. Remember, it is not personal; it is not about you as a person and it shouldn’t stop you from pursuing your goals. I got about 60 rejections before I landed my first paid performance abroad. If you put the research on it, the effort and patience there will come a day that someone will hire you. You just have to know your strengths, weaknesses and your audience.

Advice:
1.-Feel comfortable sharing your work with others; it doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. Getting feedback is very helpful.
2.- Never stop training as movers, techniques are constantly shifting, weaving other techniques, be open, be patient, be aware that you will never stop learning;
3.-There will always be someone better than you, but there is nobody like you in terms of background, voice, inspirations, movement, and storytelling. Nobody will never be exactly like you, so find what makes you unique and use it as a means to explore and stand out from the crowd.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me was raising me in a home that was real and full of everything—ups and downs, good and bad. It wasn’t a perfect household, but one where adversities and dark moments were met with honesty and respect. They supported me, set boundaries, and always found ways for us to overcome challenges together. They never solved my problems for me but pushed me to excel and stood by me through every high and low. Their actions taught me that with hard work, proper resources, and a strong support network, achieving goals is possible.

They demonstrated the importance of perseverance, resilience, and self-reliance . Their guidance and belief in me instilled a strong sense of determination and the confidence to face challenges head-on. Through their example, I learned the value of setting goals, working diligently towards them, and the significance of having a supportive community to help along the way.
They showed me to be humble, to care for others, to support others, to empathize. To trust in myself and my worth. Despite their demanding schedules, my parents devoted every ounce of energy to us. I admire my mom for being such a strong “mujer chingona”She’s a Biochemist and has never stopped practicing her profession even with the adversities of being a mom, She’s also an athlete, she plays basketball and went to nationals representing Mexico back in the days and hasn’t stopped playing basketball, she is now 75 years old and still attends tournaments and plays basketball. My father, emerging from poverty, defied the odds to earn an engineering degree, tirelessly juggling multiple jobs to provide for us. In his little free time he would always show me how to do things so that I wouldn’t have to depend on anyone for anything, it ranged from changing a tire to learning how to cook and take care of my finances. They both instilled me the idea that I could do anything and that they would always be there for me. I will forever be grateful for all the sacrifices they made for us. I cannot begin to express how much I love them and how lucky I’ve been to have them as parents.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zarinamendoza.com/ https://www.tranzedc.com/
• Instagram: @zarinasflow @tranze_mxli