I am a biracial, Black and Portuguese, dance and multidisciplinary artist. At the heart of my practice, I am alchemising emotional energy into movement and physical language. I combine live performance, film, photography, and written word to build emotional landscapes that reflect universal feelings such as love, grief, and loneliness. I am drawn to visual aesthetics and dance as tools to access the heart and create intimate moments of expression. Once told by an intuitive healer that I am not an artist living on the surface but an artist of “depth,” I often identify with this word and allow it to inform my work.
As a dancer, Marissa Brown has lived and worked professionally in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles and toured internationally with several choreographers. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance and BFA in Dance Choreography from the University of California Irvine and an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts. Dimitri Chamblas, Benjamin Millipied’s LA Dance Project, Broadway’s West Side Story choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Celia Rowlson Hall, Phantom Limb Company directed by Jessica Grindstaff, Rosanna Gamson, Heidi Duckler Dance, Alexis Blake, and Madeline Hollander are just some of the artists she has danced for.
As an artist and choreographer, Marissa’s works have been commissioned and showcased in festivals, theaters, and unconventional spaces around the world including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Paris. She has had the pleasure of being an artist in residence with Land + Sky Artist Residency, Art Share LA, LA Dance Project, White Leaves Artist Residency, Keshet Dance and Center for the Arts Residency, and Gallim x CreateArt Residency.
Marissa is passionate about using dance and film to collaborate with fashion brands, particularly conscious and sustainable brands. You can see many of those creations here.
An overarching theme and interest in Marissa’s life and work is bioenergetics, the way we transmute and move energy through our bodies. This has led her to study and offer energy work through the practices of Reiki and Kundalini Yoga + Meditation. Marissa is also an herbalist and often creates many of her own healing herbal creations and elixirs.
To connect with Marissa email hellomarissajbrown@gmail.com or follow on Instagram @marissajbrown
