Marisa Castillo enjoys sharing the love, spirit and soul of dance with students of all ages. Ms. Castillo began teaching classical ballet in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2005. Since then she has taught beginning to intermediate levels at ODC Dance Commons, Stanford University, University of San Francisco, Mobu Dance Studio, LINES Dance Center and Berkeley Ballet Theater. Ms. Castillo has performed with Peninsula Ballet Theater, North Coast Dance, Santa Clara Ballet, and Columbia City Ballet. Seeking an in-depth approach to understanding and mastering the foundations of classical ballet, she trained in the Vaganova Russian Syllabus of Classical Ballet under Karen Morell. She furthered her dance studies in the Certificate program at the Ailey School in New York City and earned a B.A. in Dance from San Francisco State University.
From 2004-2019 she had the incredible fortune of being mentored and coached by Augusta Moore in the art of teaching ballet from a somatic viewpoint. Marisa’s somatic journey began in 2000 when she began taking Augusta Moore’s Feldenkrais classes and workshops. She studied in a 3 year seminar with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, creator of Body-Mind Centering® in Applications of Experimental Anatomy for Ballet Teachers.
Marisa is currently working on completing her studies to become a certified Body-Mind Centering® Somatic Movement Educator. Ms. Castillo will be presenting this unique somatic approach to learning ballet at the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA) conference in March 2021.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dance Center