Marissa has worked with organizations including the National Dance Education Organization, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, and Get Empowered. Following a brief pause in her creative and teaching work to serve as a caregiver, she became increasingly interested in the intersection of arts and health. She currently serves as the Arts & Well-Being Coordinator at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), overseeing arts-in-healthcare initiatives for patients and healthcare workers, and producing programs and events at the intersection of arts and public health.
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Marissa’s multifaceted career as an artist, educator, choreographer, and administrator guides her exploration of community-building through dance, fostering practices of care for artists and administrators, and advancing the integration of arts and health in creative practice.
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Photos by Caroline Haidet
Marissa Finkelstein is a New Jersey-based dance artist, educator, choreographer, and arts administrator dedicated to community-centered creative work. She holds an MFA in Dance (Choreography) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where her thesis explored themes of care through an intergenerational choreographic project, and a BA in Dance and Business from Muhlenberg College.
Marissa has taught in public schools, universities, studios, and community centers across New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Her choreography has been showcased at festivals and venues including the American College Dance Association, Dance New Jersey’s Annual Festival, the Creative Aging Network in Greensboro, NC, Triskelion Arts, and the Berkshires’ 30under30 festival. Marissa's research on dance pedagogy has been presented at the National Dance Education Organization National Conference, and her writing has appeared in Dance Spirit, DanceGeist, and Dance Education in Practice. She has received grants to conduct dance research at the Creative Aging Center in Greensboro, NC and at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library.
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A Safety Release Master Teacher certified by B.J. Sullivan, Marissa continues to teach dance throughout New Jersey. She recently co-launched NJ Dance Co-op, a volunteer-run collective increasing access to high-quality dance training for adults in New Jersey.
