Alissa Cardone

I aim to nurture imagination, investigation, collaboration, and critical thinking in my students through rigorous, inspired leadership that not only advances the development of the field but fosters creative problem-solving skills for life.

Alissa Cardone joined the Conservatory in 2013. She teaches the courses Modern Technique; Experiential Anatomy; Screen Dance: Form and Fundamentals; Intro to Dance and Technology; Dance and Technology Special Projects; Butoh and Image-Based Movement Improvisation; Rehab Mobilization; and Advanced Experiential Anatomy. 

Cardone specializes in collaborations bridging dance, film, technology, and fine art. Her company, Kinodance, was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to watch” (2008) and was presented nationally by Bank of America Celebrity Series, World Music/CRASHarts, the Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College, onStage at Connecticut College, Monaco Dance Forum, the Berkshire Fringe Festival, Summer Stages Dance Festival, and Boston Cyberarts Festival and internationally in Russia and Armenia. In addition to Cardone’s role as a performer and choreographer, from 2003 to 2011 she co-curated and produced “Ideas in Motion: Innovations in Dance, Movement and Technology” for Boston Cyberarts Festival. She has also curated dance and film programs for Green Street Studios, Dances Made to Order, Anatomy Riot (Los Angeles), and Kinodance Russia International Dance Film Festival.

From 1998 to 2003, Cardone performed, taught, and toured with Paula Josa-Jones/Performance Works and then worked with such notable choreographers as Xavier Le Roy, Ann Carlson, Nora Chipaumire, Victoria Marks, Anna Myer, and Elaine Summers. In Japan, Cardone trained with Min Tanaka (Body Weather Farm), performed with “Nijinsky of Butoh” Akira Kasai, and collaborated with Yoshito Ohno and Naoka Uemura. She has been a recent guest artist with Gandini Jugglers and Shamel Pitts, and has created original sound scores for choreographer Petra Vermeersch (Belgium). She has won project grants and awards from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, Soros Foundation, CEC Artslink, Asian Cultural Council, LEF Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, New England Foundation for the Arts, and the National Dance Project as well as residencies at the Yard, National Gallery of Armenia, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Amherst College.

For over a decade, she has been collaborating with artist Nell Breyer on a mixed-media performance, installation, and photographic series titled Dance.Woman.House. 

Cardone holds a BA from Boston University (1996), an MA in performance studies from New York University (2003), and an MFA in dance from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures (2011), where she was a recipient of the Elaine Krown Klein Fine Arts Scholarship and the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Performing Arts Award.

Professional Awards and Recognitions

• Dance.Woman.House. Residency at Kaatsbahn Cultural Park, 2025
• Dance.Woman.House. Residency at Keshet Arts, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2024
• Newbury Comics Faculty Fellowship for InSite: Augmented Reality Portal, 2023
• Special Project Grant Recipient, National Dance Project, 2015
• Winner, Massachusetts Cultural Council Choreography Fellowship, 2012
• Dance Magazine “Top 25 to Watch,” 2008
• Finalist, Massachusetts Cultural Council Choreography Fellowship, 2002, 2006, 2008
• Winner, New England Foundation for the Arts Regional Dance Development Fellowship, 2007

Notable Recent Works

• Assistant choreographer on set, Grape Maestro directed by Alla Kovgan, 2025
• Choreographer, Antigonick directed by Blythe de Oliveira Foster, MIT, 2024
• Selected presenter and choreographer, Women in Dance Leadership Conference, 2018
• Commissioned choreography for Doppelgänger Dance Collective, Underwear, Nowhere, 2016
• Choreographer for the dance film New London Calling, 2011