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2012 maria caruso hallelujah
Maria Caruso (Born October 12, 1980) is a Pittsburgh native dancer and choreographer, best known as the founder and artistic director of Bodiography Contemporary Ballet. Caruso is currently the chair of the Performing Arts department and director of the Dance department at La Roche College.
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Personal life
Caruso is married to Dr. Alan Russell. Dr. Russell is a Highmark Distinguished Career Professor and the Director of the Disruptive Health Technology Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. She has five step-children.
Early Training
Maria Caruso grew up in Rural Valley, PA, outside of Pittsburgh. Caruso’s mother and father split when she was young, and dance soon became a therapeutic outlet for her. Luba Takamoto was Maria’s first influential teacher. Working with Takamoto instilled the academic value of dance in Caruso. Maria then studied at Sue Hewett Dance Studio in Indiana, PA, and Hewett became another of Maria’s early mentors. Caruso graduated high school early, at age 16, and continued her education as a BFA student in Florida State University’s dance program. While studying at Florida State, Maria began to mature and no longer fit the traditional ballet body stereotypes. Anjali Austin, one of Maria’s professors, became her mentor at FSU and helped her through this period. This inspired Caruso to later open a school that would serve the needs of dancers with non-stereotypical ballet bodies. After graduation from FSU and returning to Pittsburgh, Caruso earned a master's degree in professional leadership from Carlow College.
Performance career
Caruso’s performance career includes work with artists such as Anjali Austin, Ilana Suprun Clyde, Ze’eva Cohen, Lynne Taylor Corbett, Johan Renvall, and James Martin.
Bodiography
Caruso founded Bodiography in NYC in 2000. The company was relocated to the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill at the historic site of Gene Kelly’s dance studio in 2001 and is home to a professional contemporary ballet company, fitness and wellness program, and a dance conservatory. Bodiography Contemporary Ballet presents a multi-genre movement vocabulary including modern, jazz, and pedestrian movement solidly supported by the classical ballet technique. Caruso’s creation of the Bodiography® Fitness and Strength Training System is based on a system of compounding exercises with the utilization of multiple props in a mat based class. The program has found great success particularly on the east coast of the United States. With over 50 trained instructors in a variety of fitness and dance environments, the fitness system assists in spreading the company’s over arching message of dance being an inclusive art form. Beyond the national reach of the program, the Bodiography® Fitness and Strength Training System classes can be found in many places in the Pittsburgh area. Since 2002, and a long-standing collaboration with Club One Fitness, Caruso and her artists continue to offer an array of fitness classes at both Bodiography and Club One locations.
Choreography by Caruso
- 80 Total Works to Date
- 23 Total Full-length Ballets
- 4 Full-length Ballets with Original Scores
- 2 Full-length Theater Installations with Original Scores
- 17 Full-length Ballets without Original Scores
- 22 Concert Works
- 2 Concert Work with Original Score
- 10 Solo Works
- 14 Commissions
- 9 Collegiate Works
Presentations
Writing
Bodiography Dance Movement Therapy System: The Healing Power of Dance and Movement for EveryBODY (2013) The profound results of Caruso’s research, supported by Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield in 2014, catapulted the success of the Dance Movement Therapy program and provided a platform for training more dance movement therapy facilitators in the Pittsburgh region and beyond.