Marisa is a dancer, choreographer, instructor, actress, model, and Japanese-English interpreter/translator based in Los Angeles, CA. As a dancer, she specializes in partner-dancing: ballroom, salsa, tango, and swing.After studying and professionally performing in ballet and contemporary dance for 20 years in both USA and Japan, Marisa discovered salsa and ballroom dancing while recovering from Spinal Cord Infarction, a severe neurological disease which laid her paralyzed from the neck down, and put her on a hiatus from dancing for 3 1/2 years. Partner-dancing soon became Marisa's new found passion, and she made a miracle comeback to her dance career and became certified ballroom instructor in November 2010.Acting and modeling came as a natural extension of her dancing, and she is having a blast discovering and learning a new side of herself through the endeavor. She looks forward to doing more.Marisa earned both her BA and MA on merit scholarships from Keio University, the "Harvard" of Japan. Linking her dancing with her academic studies, Marisa has researched and published papers in the fields of Dance Science and Dance Education, and served on leadership for the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science between 2007-2010. She was also a Research Assistant for Middlesex University's Center for Research into Creation in the Performing Arts 2010-2011, for a project focusing on Community Dance in Japan.Marisa plans to dance and act for the rest of her life, and in addition has a vision to one day build an international arts university & conservatory, fostering artists who become leaders in making the world a better place through their art. Show less «