Marisa Plasencia

Marisa Plasencia is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Kansas where she teaches courses in modern dance and Hip Hop. Prior to arriving at KU, she taught dance history and technique at the undergraduate and graduate level at Tufts University and Reed College. In addition to these areas of focus, Marisa’s current training and performance practice is focused on flamenco technique and choreography.

As an artist-scholar, Marisa’s artistic practice explores the complex boundaries between twin bodies. In collaboration with her twin sister, she has presented work at the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers and the Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance. With an interest in transnational spaces and bilingualism in dance composition, Marisa is currently developing choreographic projects in percussive forms of dance, including flamenco and cumbia.

Marisa received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research examines the role of misdirection in dance historiography. She specifically studies choreographers that navigate their training and cultural knowledge of multiple dance traditions to challenge their legibility in the public space of performance. Her research has been supported by Mellon/ACLS and the Fulbright Program.