Marisa Danielle Melvin

Marisa is a dance artist and educator born, raised, and currently based in Durham, North Carolina. She has been dancing since she was three years old and realized her love for creative movement at an early age. Marisa has trained in many dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, various styles of modern, contemporary, salsa on2 (New York style mambo), casino (Cuban style salsa), Afro Cuban folkloric and popular dance, as well as various forms of African dance. She has also trained in acrobatics and a multitude of circus arts including aerial silks, trapeze, and cyr wheel.

Growing up Marisa trained at Dance Expressions and Nina’s School of Dance and eventually studied in the dance program at East Carolina University. She also held a work study at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. She has performed work by Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE Dance Company at the American Dance Festival in 2018 and 2024, as well as participating in their summer dance intensive and subsequent performances in Brooklyn, New York. Marisa has intensively trained salsa on2 and performs and competes both locally and nationally.

Currently Marisa works as a teaching artist with North Carolina Arts in Action, a non-profit that uses dance, music and performance to instill self-esteem, perseverance, and excellence in children. She also teaches at All In Dance Academy serving children ages three to 18. Marisa dances with KT Collective under the direction of Kristin Taylor and Calabasa Calabasa: Dancing and Making the Music of Life under the direction of Andrea Woods Valdés.

In the spirit of continued creative growth and exploration, Marisa has decided to take on graduate studies at Duke University in the Master of Fine Arts in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis program. Her research is based in the origins and evolution of Afro Cuban music and dance and explores the connection between community, movement, and well-being.