Marisa Ballaro

As part of THD’s Friday Forum Guest Dance Artists program, Marisa Ballaro will provide the first guest master class of the spring semester, titled “Modern MOVES,” on Friday, January 23, 2026.

A proud Buffalonian, Marisa f. Ballaro is Founding Artistic Director of NYC-based Ballaro Dance. She creates sensory-rich, community-centered experiences that invite audiences and MOVERS into spaces of shared experience. Collaboration fuels her work, shaping projects that blend movement, connection, and immersive storytelling. Marisa holds an MFA in Dance from Montclair State University—where she was selected as the College of the Arts Convocation Speaker—and graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Brockport, recently receiving its Outstanding Service Award. A dedicated educator, she taught for 12 years at The Brearley School, is a certified Level 1 Simonson Technique practitioner, and is a Breathwork and Movement Coach through The Embody Lab. In 2025, Ballaro Dance toured broadly teaching and performing across the Mid-Atlantic region, while her dance film, Descent, screened in cities nationwide. This fall her 47-minute multidisciplinary work, The Distance, was produced by Take Root at Green Space (Queens, NY) and she premiered Goddess, featuring an original piano score by composer John Carroll, in Dance Bloc at Dixon Place (New York, NY).

Modern MOVES is a high-energy, thought-provoking class blending early American modern dance with bold explorations of weight, balance, and spatial tension. Dancers connect from the inside out, using breath, body mechanics, and articulation to move efficiently, powerfully, and expressively. Through dynamic floor work, across-the-floor locomotion, and play, students experiment with speed, direction, and phrasing while layering intention and style. Peer-to-peer feedback and a “classroom as lab” approach sparks curiosity, reflection, and collaborative discovery. Class culminates in a full-bodied, exhilarating movement phrase, celebrating connection, creativity, and the joy of moving together.