Marisa 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, and LINES Dance Center. Ms. Castillo has performed with Peninsula Ballet Theater, North Coast Dance, Santa Clara Ballet, and Columbia City Ballet. As a native Californian, Marisa began her dance training in the East Bay and was invited by Karen Morell to study and train with her in the Vaganova Russian Syllabus of Classical Ballet. 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. After returning from New York, Marisa focused her attention on teaching. 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 approach. Augusta called Marisa her muse and protégé as well as a partner in helping develop this approach. Marisa is currently spearheading the effort to take this work further and develop a true syllabus in honor of Augusta’s life work. Marisa’s somatic journey began in 2000 with the Feldenkrais Method. She has furthered her somatic education with numerous workshops and seminars with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, creator of Body-Mind Centering®. Marisa is currently working on completing her studies to become a certified Body-Mind Centering® Somatic Movement Educator.