Meet Our Founding Artistic Director

A proud Buffalonian, Marisa f. Ballaro is Founding Artistic Director of NYC-based Ballaro Dance. Passionate about bringing sensory-rich dance experiences to new audiences and first-time MOVERS, she values community-based and collaborative projects at the core of her artistic vision.

Marisa received her Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Montclair State University (2022) while selected to be the Convocation Speaker for the College of the Arts; she graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Brockport with dual degrees in Dance and Interdisciplinary Arts for Children. Marisa taught at The Brearley School in Manhattan for 12 years and was recognized as an Outstanding Educator by The University of Chicago in October 2019. She is the recipient of two honors awarded by The Brearley School: The Margaret Riker Harding Lower School Fellowship and The Serena Marshall Weld Award. She traveled to Barcelona, Spain in April of 2022 becoming a certified practitioner of Level 1: Simonson Teacher Training.

Most recently, Marisa was awarded a $9,575 Impact Grant by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to lead a nation-wide virtual project culminating in a performance in NYC this past June; she will receive a second year of funding to complete the project again in 2025. Committed to being a lifelong learner, Marisa presented her research on identity-based composition structures in Denver, CO at the National NDEO Conference (2023) and at the NYSDEA Conference at Hunter College (2024.) Her collaborative film "The Distance" was awarded Best Choreography at the Experimental Dance & Music Film Festival (2023) and she was selected to present a multidisciplinary dance and technology piece at the St. Louis Contemporary Dance Festival in June 2024. Marisa is a passionate, lifelong Buffalo Bills fan! 

Since its inaugural 2014 season, Ballaro Dance has prioritized community-based, collaborative projects with a decade of art-making and innovation. Notable productions include "2D + 3D = CommuniD" (2022; 65 min, Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center at Gibney) which explored a hybrid performance format including performers as far as Iran; "Embedded Memories" (2021-2024; 45 min, ongoing: eight locations) an illuminated installation work inspired by kintsugi and the physical and emotional scars that live on and within us; "The Distance" (2023; 47 min; The Underground Theater at Abrons) explored the form, physicality, and finesse of boxing in a 12-round multidisciplinary work with a varied sound score, film projection, and the creation of a human boxing ring. Ballaro Dance began collaborating with filmmaker Zoran Prodanovic (YouTube: SEE Ballaro Dance) in 2018 and continues to make sensory-rich dance films in an ongoing, essential partnership which continues to push the boundaries of physicality in 2D platforms and bridges the gap between communities across the miles. Most recently, Ballaro Dance was on tour to Rochester, NY in August producing "She Who Inspires," a site-specific, multidisciplinary performance tour in collaboration with film, visual art, poetry, and cello. 

We dance to engage with people; we choreograph to tell stories; we produce art to build community.