Marissa Beccard was born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado where she began dancing at the age of 10. Since then she has rarely been seen outside of a dance studio! Her studies began with ballet, modern, jazz, and gymnastics at Mountain Center and Canyon Concert Ballet where she performed in many shows including classical ballets like The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. She attended and performed at the Snowy Range Summer Dance Festival at University of Wyoming multiple times. While there, she was fortunate to study with a variety of teachers and companies including Repertory Dance Theater, Ballet West, and the Trey McIntyre Project. Upon graduating High School she relocated to St. Louis, MO to pursue her BFA in Dance with a Modern Emphasis as well as her BA in History at Webster University. During her time at Webster, Marissa studied under Michael Uthoff, Alicia Graf Mack, James Robey, Beckah Reed, Monica Newsam, and Patravadi Mejudhon (Webster Thailand). She also had the opportunity to perform in works by José Limon, Michael Uthoff, James Robey, Monica Newsam, and Maggi Dueker as well as student work. While attending Webster, Marissa took her first aerial class and discovered the joy of flying. She had the opportunity to study on a variety of apparatus including silks, slings, trapeze, and lyra. Additionally, Marissa choreographed for a variety of Theatrical productions including Constellations directed by Trace Turner, Rhinoceros directed by Max Friedman, and Photograph 51 directed by Trace Turner. Upon Graduating from Webster Marissa began performing with the Modern American Dance Company in St. Louis as a member of their second company and an apprentice to their main company. She had the opportunity to work with choreographers Lindsay Hawkins, Claire Hilleren, and Natalie Williams, Jacob Henss, Christian Denise, James Gregg, Gina Patterson, Joshua Peugh, and Stephanie Martinez while with MADCO. Outside of MADCO Marissa has performed with The Larks in their production of The Verge by Susan Glaspell and in Whale of the People’s Honest Fables, Zealous Foibles. Currently, Marissa is the Artistic and Program director at MJ Performing Arts Academy in St. Louis.
