Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave's On the Ground Kalamazoo series.

KALAMAZOO, MI — Marisa Bianan’s mother watched her 7-year-old daughter joyfully twirl and bop and pirouette up and down the grocery aisle as she shopped. It was clear to her — she had to enroll her girl in a dance class. 

“I began dancing at 7 years old, so that means I have now been dancing for 21 years,” says Bianan. “The excitement of still making discoveries is what gets me out of bed and coming to class every single day. My goal as artistic director is to allow those moments to translate and happen for every dancer that I encourage and help train throughout my time in this position.”

Emily McKeeMarisa Bianan, new Artistic Director of Wellspring Dance CompanyBianan is the new artistic director of Wellspring Dance Company. She follows in the footsteps of Cori Terry, founder of the Company. 

“Why am I stepping down from Wellspring? It's time!” says Terry. “After 43 years of pushing hard, never giving up in the lean times, and always going full throttle, indeed, having created the company, made it into a 501c3, and nurtured it into a healthy organization, at 71 years old, my body has its limitations. 

"The dancers need someone to teach company class every day. I did that for so, so long! When Marisa came along and I hired her to join the company, I recognized in her not only an amazing dancer, a strong choreographer, and a beautiful person with tons of integrity, but a leader as well.”  

Gabriel Giron"Marisa has it all!" says Cori Terry of Bianan who is the new Artistic Director of Wellspring Dance COmpany.Bianan joined the Wellspring Dance Company immediately after earning her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Western Michigan University in 2018. 

“When I auditioned for Wellspring, I was contracted as an apprentice,” she says. “I was taking classes, and performing in our main concerts throughout the season. The next year, I was promoted to full Company member, so that gave me different opportunities.”

Marisa Bianan working with young dancersAnd then, Bianan says sighing, Covid happened. After a journey of self-discovery, developing technique and artistry, the dance studio and the world around it shut down. In the next year, as the world began once again to wake up from the pandemic, dance companies nationwide were changing how they offered auditions. 

“Typically, you would have to go in person,” Bianan says. “But with the pandemic, there were a lot of opportunities with virtual auditions or submissions to then be invited to audition in person.

Kris WalkerMarisa Bianan joined the Wellspring Dance Company immediately after earning her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Western Michigan University in 2018. "The rules had changed. In 2021, I approached Cori and asked her if she would be a reference for me in these auditions. She then ‘fessed up that she had other plans: to hand the Company over to my artistic direction. That was quite a shock. I had had no idea.”

A door opened. After taking a weekend to consider the offer, Bianan gladly danced through that unexpected open door.  

“I realized this was something that I had always dreamed of as a part of my professional career in dance,” Bianan says. 

The fall of 2021 was the beginning of a three-year transition into Bianan’s new position at Wellspring Dance Company. First, she was given the role of associate artistic director. She began to attend board meetings and serve on executive committees becoming a part of what she calls “back-end work.” Along with continuing to develop her artistic and technical dance skills over this transitional phase, Bianan also developed her administrative skills. 

“I’ve learned so much from Cori,” Bianan says. “She’s taught me how to move, how to create, how to interact with dancers. She’s provided a space that supports my natural mode of moving but then incorporates a lot of different concepts related to the spine and the pelvis that I had never really opened my eyes to. Immediately, I felt like there was something in me that was clicking in a new way.”

Part of what Bianan offers in her new role are lessons learned in a course she recently completed through the Dance Education Equity Association called “Be Courageous Training.” The training deals with issues of inequity and abuse in the world of dance. 

Mia Crowley“We’re looking at bodies — it’s a very intimate space,” Bianan says. “Things can be said, things can be felt, and it can become a part of the culture very easily. And it has been and still is a part of the culture. 

"(The 'Be Courageous Training') allowed me to reflect on all the training I had had beginning with elementary school, to middle school, to high school, to university. Not all the feedback I received, unfortunately, was healthy for my own mental development. In dance, there’s this understanding that you just push through — you’re tough, you’re tough, you’re tough.”

To counter that culture, Bianan is making a special effort to welcome all to Wellspring Dance Company, to make it open, accessible, and equitable to however one identifies or presents.

“If you are interested in discovering the way you like to move or discover more about different ways of moving, I have become very passionate to create a space for that,” Bianan says. “Every family, every student, whether youth or adult that comes in and interacts with our program is very aware of the fact that you will see different types of bodies, you will see different people, and that’s what creates such unique and beautiful spaces in which to move — and that opens up other spaces in life.”

Wellsrping Founder Cori Terry (center)“Marisa has it all!” Cori Terry adds. “I feel like I've hit the jackpot to have found someone so deeply rooted in modern dance who not only has her own strong vision as an artist and as a choreographer but also honors me and Wellspring's legacy with deep respect. She's the best of both worlds.”

Wellspring Dance Academy offers ongoing classes for adults.  Anyone can drop in at any time. The Wellspring Dance Company, meanwhile, is now preparing for their Fall Concert of Dance, a collaboration supported by Fontana Chamber Arts, taking place November 22 to 24 at the Wellspring Theater. Tickets and more information are available online.