Reisa DiNatale, from San Antonio, Texas, is an alumni of Texas State University, recently graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree in Dance, with a focus in performance and choreography. She has been dancing since the age of two, and has trained at multiple studios in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and most recently Texas at Kathy Marfin’s Dance School under the Leading Edge Dance Company. She competed in dance competitions for about 10 years throughout her life at both regional and national competitions, training heavily in ballet, modern, jazz and tap. Along with that, she participated in a pre-professional dance company called Summerge in 2021, performing in the first Semilla festival, and was a member of Merge Dance Company, affiliated with the Texas State Dance Division and university for two years (2021-2023) learning from choreographers Ana Baer, Christa Oliver, Torens Johnson, Francisco Graciano, Brandon Gonzales, Heike Salzer, and Michelle Nance. While in Merge, Reisa not only danced, but served as the social media manager for the 2022-2023 company, promoting the show and the company as a whole. Her most recent accomplishment is choreographing an adjudicated piece titled “Hivemind” that performed at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Southwest Conference at UT Austin. Before this she choreographed her BFA senior thesis piece titled “Lost in the Crowd,” with a cast of 19 dancers. In the years before these accomplishments she had choreographed three collaborative pieces with Alexzandria Turley at Texas State University, and one with Kamryn Bowling, and also choreographed her debut group piece, “Breezeblock.”
Reisa now plans to continue her journey of creating pieces. She hopes to perform for a few years following her graduation from college, and hopes to choreograph professionally as much as possible. Along with her love of performing dance, she also has experience teaching the art form. Reisa has taught at Kathy Marfin’s Dance School with students ages 3-10 years old in ranging styles like ballet, jazz, hip hop and tap. Most recently she received a guest choreography job at The Dance Gallery in Round Rock, Texas choreographing a contemporary piece on their competitive senior company. She has also received her 200 hour Hatha yoga teaching certification under the guidance of Becky Jordan and Misti Galvan to add diversity to her teaching capabilities, which she is currently pursuing at the Thousand Oaks Family YMCA in San Antonio, Texas.
Reisa DiNatale’s work, “In Cold Blood” will be presented at Small Plates Austin 2024.
Instagram: @reisadinatale @dancingwithreisa
Website: Dancing with Reisa
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