A native from Guatemala, Guatemala, Sue Ellen Irene Gramajo Castillo de Hill is a dance teacher, arts administrator, and business consultant living and working in Houston, TX. Mrs. Hill migrated to the United States as a child and quickly gravitated towards sports and arts as an opportunity for expression and community as she did not speak the language. Mrs. Hill is a proud self-proclaimed street dancerwhose movement curiosity was sparked by break-dancing and hip hop in her early years. As an underground dancer, she began studying salsa after a wrist injury and quickly fell in love with its culture, music, and history. As a teenager, Mrs. Hill was fortunate to receive salsa and dance technique training from Daniel Torres, former soloist with the Ballet Folklórico de Mexico de Amalia Hernández . This gave her the technical foundation that would trigger her love and appreciation for dance as an art form for years to come.
This love for dance grew into opportunities to work as a performer and choreographer with several Houston-area dance companies such as Paraiso International (1998-1999) under the direction of Schynthia Johnson, Nayanna Cooper, Daniel Díaz, and Christian Gomez, Candente International (2000-2001) under the direction of Schynthia Johnson, Rhumba Y Bongo (2003) under the direction of Ruby Rivera, and Con Sabor Dance Company (2004) under the direction of Blanca Flores. These opportunities also allowed her to travel throughout the US and Puerto Rico to participate and train in numerous Salsa Congresses (1998-2004.)
After being granted her official United States residency, Mrs. Hill seized this opportunity and quickly applied to study dance at Sam Houston State University. As a non-traditional, slightly older student who continued to work as a waitress in Houston, while simultaneously studying in Huntsville, Mrs. Hill completed her Bachelors in Arts in Dance focusing primarily in modern and ballet. She had the chance to study under the late Jonathan Charles, Fayla Curry, Cindy Gratz, and Dana Nicolay to name a few.
Upon completing her degree, Mrs. Hill returned to Houston to focus her career on arts and business administration. She worked for LD Dance Company under the direction of Lucia Dargam for their 2009-2010 season as an administrative assistant and performer, for Houston Community College - Northwest Campus (2009-2010) under the direction of Shani Henderson as a Teacher’s Assistant, for Psophonia Dance Company (2010) under the direction of Sophia Torres as an administrative assistant, and for various fortune 500 oil & gas companies as an administrator, intellectual property legal assistant, and office manager (2010-2015).
Mrs. Hill returned to school to complete a Master’s in Business Administration with a focus on Leadership from the University of Houston-Downtown and currently does business and artistic consulting as well as enjoys choreographing for special projects. Most recently, she holds credits as a salsa consultant for Theatre Under the Star’sBroadway production of “In the Heights,” choreographer for Danko Productions’ short film “Connect,” and choreographer and producer for Pine Heart Productions’ short film “Caroline’s Masterpiece.”
Mrs. Hill currently serves as the Operations Manager for the Education & Community Engagement department at Houston Ballet where she combines her love for dance, business, teaching, and serving as a liaison between the company and Houston’s Spanish speaking population.