Melisa Visaya Cervantes is a Filipina American artist - movement practitioner, choreographer, designer and educator. Currently, she is cultivating ways to continue her thesis work, Rise and Remember, rooted in Dance and Social Justice, Somatics, and Phenomenology. At the end of 2019, she received her Master of Fine Arts in Dance: Creative Practice with a Design for Dance Certificate at St. Mary’s College of California, where she recently taught Dance and Social Justice for their Master’s Program. Melisa received her Bachelors of Arts in Dance at Sacramento State where she serves as part-time faculty in the Department of Theatre and Dance, with a dance teaching repertoire including modern/contemporary, improvisation, and hip-hop. Melisa has presented thought-provoking work as a principal dancer and/or choreographer/costume designer for several well known local Sacramento dance companies and prominent choreographers throughout California. She is a long time collaborator with husband, composer Miguel Cervantes, who creates wide ranging sound compositions for her dance theatre works.