bio
Change has been the context and the constant in Melissa’s artistic and personal experience.
Originally from Pesaro (Italy) Melissa moved through different geographies, layering her artistic identity and deepening the growth that derives from encounters and cultural exchanges through movement.
After graduating in 2011 from Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds (UK) Melissa has then pursued a fruitful career in Dance and Performing Arts both as a free-lancer and full-time company member.
Between 2012 and 2017 she lived and worked in Istanbul (Turkey), an experience that widened her perspective on the international socio-political landscape and helped her question eurocentric framing with a critical eye.
Melissa worked touring internationally as a dancer and rehearsal director for many years, with most relevant collaborations including Aakash Odedra (UK/IN), Cie7273 (CH), Art of Spectra (SE) and the Akram Khan Company (UK).
Her professional experiences merged into a movement practice that Melissa shared through workshops around Europe, Turkey, India and Iran. In 2020 Melissa moved to Germany where she worked with theatre director Falk Richter and choreographer Anouk Van Dijk at the Münchner Kammerspiele (DE), whilst continuing her free-lance activity through collaborations with fellow artists like Gizem Aksu and TingAn Ying, and institutions like Tanzfabrik Schule in Berlin amongst others.
Outside the studio Melissa is a hardcore music fan, practices singing and playing guitar when no one is watching and occasionally onstage.
She is currently based both in Berlin and in Frankfurt am Main, where she is a student of the MA CoDE Programme at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst.
Melissa’s artistic and pedagogical research revolves around Mindfulness and is inspired by her relationship to Nature and sustainability, which informs her exploration of biomechanics and human anatomy.
How to coexist, understand and interact with one another through movement are pillar-themes of her pedagogical practice, born from a strong desire to operate outside the traditional dance industry context and explore the potential of dealing with dance and movement in social work and community contexts.