Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Krisha Marcanos Goals for Conservatorys Theater Division: Refine, Level Up, Focus

10/12/2024

Krisha Marcanos Goals for Conservatorys Theater Division: Refine, Level Up, Focus Marcano knew her path early in life. Now, as the Conservatory's dean of theater, she's helping others find theirs.

By

Sarah Godcher Murphy

December 10, 2024

Krisha Marcano, dean of theater at Boston Conservatory

Image by S an Alonzo Harris

When she was four years old, Krisha Marcano saw a ballerina for the very first time while watching The Nutcracker on television at her home in Trinidad, and she instantly knew she was going to be a professional dancer. To be clear, she didn't merely think she wanted to be one; she was certain it would happen for her someday. She begged to take ballet lessons, and when her grandmother said no (because lessons were too expensive), she pitched an epic tantrum that became a chapter in Marcano family lore.

Apparently, I threw myself all over the living room, says Marcano, who became Boston Conservatory at Berklee's new dean of theater in July. She simply would not take no for an answer. I don't know what you all need to do, but I'm going to thrash around until you get it together, she recalls thinking at the time.

Her grandmother relented, and Marcano received excellent ballet training in Trinidad until she finished high school. After graduation, there were no signposts pointing her in the direction of professional dancer, and no mentors explaining how to navigate the US educational system. Nevertheless, Marcano knew where she wanted to go next.

I watched her grow from an excited and eager young artist into a commanding presence on the stage, with her natural comedic talent, beautiful voice.

- LaChanze

I was born in New York and my mother was still living in New York, so I knew that once I finished high school that's where I was going-because that's where I was going to be dancing, she says.

Marcano had heard of the city's most prominent dance program, at Juilliard, but had no idea how to apply; however, she did figure out how to enroll in a modern dance class at nearby Queensborough Community College. With 14 years of ballet training under her belt, she was head and shoulders above her less-experienced classmates. The teacher looked at me and said, What are you doing here? Come to my office right after class.' My first class! Marcano says.

The teacher at Queensborough helped Marcano secure an audition for the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College and told her how to take the train to the school's campus in Westchester County. When Marcano was accepted as an undergraduate, she told her mother, I got into a conservatory training program. It's at SUNY Purchase. I don't know anything about any of those things, but we're gonna figure it out.

With this kind of spunk, Marcano was able to carve her own path forward, from SUNY Purchase to two of the most prestigious dance companies in the US, then on to Broadway, and eventually to faculty and staff positions in higher education. She brings a rare breadth of experience to her latest role as dean as well as a contagious energy that is revitalizing the Theater Division.

It was the choreography of Martha Graham that first opened Marcano's eyes to the possibilities of both modern dance and acting. Her studies at SUNY Purchase focused on Graham technique, introducing her to a dance vocabulary-and means of self-expression-unlike anything she had experienced before. For the first time, I found the ability to sing through my body. There was something godlike, euphoric, about doing that in class, she says.

About a year after graduating from SUNY Purchase, Marcano was hired by the Martha Graham Dance Company as the only woman of color in the troupe. Performing Graham's work was a formative experience for Marcano, who saw herself reflected in its impassioned storytelling. Her actual choreography-the work that we got to do-formed who I was as a woman, she says. I got to realize that I don't have to be pretty. I can be destructive. I can give life, and I can take it . That just peeled an onion layer for me, and I was like, Oh my god, there's more.'

Working with the Graham company also tapped into Marcano's theatricality and just blew the walls off, she says. For the first time, she felt like an actor as well as a dancer. After two years with the Graham company, she moved on to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for two more, and then made the leap to musical theater as a dancer in the first national tour of Fosse. Marcano toured the world with that show, from 1999 to 2001, then joined the cast of Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida as a swing. She covered nine different ensemble roles for that production-learning lines, stage positions, dance steps, and vocal parts for each one and filling in for castmates at a moment's notice.

Krisha Marcano

Image by Jane Feldman

She remained with Aida for its entire Broadway run, from 2001 to 2004; as the production neared its end, she became its dance captain, running rehearsals for the company, ensuring quality control, and teaching choreography to new company members. Her job as dance captain was Marcano's first taste of teaching, and she found that what made her a great performer also made her an effective instructor: noticing the details, learning from missteps, and trying to make the show a little better each time.

With each step forward in her performance career, Marcano learned an entirely new set of performance skills. By the time Aida closed, she had distinguished herself as a dancer and ensemble cast member, and she'd become an accomplished singer. Finding new modalities of expression has kept her highly employable, she says; and integrating those modalities has made her a better artist.

When I say that with Graham I found that I could sing throug
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/krisha-marcano-interview...
See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

16/07/2026

Business Innovation Synergizer: Grants of up to 30,000 for media organisations

Media organisations with tested plans for new products, services or revenue models can now apply for grants of up to 30,000 through the Business Innovation Syn...

16/07/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Kaden Sherman, Albany State University

This recent graduate and Georgia native has turned an early fascination with live production into a growing passion for camera work In the live-sports-video in...

16/07/2026

TNDV Marks First Year of Aspiration 35 Cinematic Production Truck

TNDV is marking the first anniversary of Aspiration 35, a mobile production truck built around ARRI Alexa 35 Live camera systems. Over its first year, the truck...

16/07/2026

ATSC Releases First Major Revision to A/85 Audio Loudness Recommended Practice Since 2013

ATSC has completed a major revision to its A/85 Recommended Practice: Techniques...

16/07/2026

FloSports Named Exclusive Global Media Partner for 2026 CrossFit Games

FloSports has announced an exclusive global media partnership with CrossFit for the 2026 CrossFit Games, presented by Air National Guard, beginning July 21 in S...

16/07/2026

Sennheiser Releases Spectera Firmware 1.4 and Command Button

Sennheiser has released firmware version 1.4 for its Spectera wireless system and announced the Spectera Command Button (Cat. No. 701014). The update adds comma...

16/07/2026

ESPN and Southwestern Athletic Conference Announce Multi-Year Media Rights Agreement Through 2030-31

ESPN and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) have announced a multi-year...

16/07/2026

Audio-Technica Releases 20 Series Control Application for Elgato Stream Deck

Audio-Technica has announced the 20 Series Control Application, a Stream Deck plug-in for compatible Audio-Technica USB microphones. The application is compatib...

16/07/2026

SSL Live L550 Plus Consoles Power Audio Production for The Voice France Season 15

The fifteenth season of The Voice - La plus belle voix on TF1 used four Solid St...

16/07/2026

Gray Media and Atlanta Hawks Announce Georgia-Wide Broadcast Partnership for 2026-27 NBA Season

Gray Media and the Atlanta Hawks have announced a broadcast partnership that wil...

16/07/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Quarterback Showrunner Joe Zucco on Cinematography, Building Trust, Carrying On the NFL Films Legacy

Season 3 of Netflix's docuseries, which dropped this week, follows Jayden Da...

16/07/2026

Texas Rangers Switch Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Partner to BZZR

The Texas Rangers and Rangers Sports Network presented by Progressive (RSN) have announced BZZR as the new direct-to-consumer distributor for Rangers game broad...

16/07/2026

FIFA World Cup 2026: BBC Sport on Moving Across the Pond to Bring the Atmosphere of the Final Matches to Fans

With England's FIFA World Cup 2026 team getting ready to fly home after losi...

16/07/2026

With 36 Unilateral Cameras, NBC Sports Shapes 154th Open Championship Coverage for U.S. Viewers

In a return to Royal Birkdale, the team enjoys partnering with ETP and Gravity M...

16/07/2026

Altitude Sports & Entertainment's Tim De Lay on New SkyCam Digital Feed, Upgraded Studio Space

Along with a new studio at Ball Arena, the Colorado-based RSN is working with XR...

16/07/2026

FIFA World Cup 2026: Inside ORF's Austria-Based Production to Bring All the Emotions of the Tournament to Fans

Austria was back at the World Cup for the first time in 28 years, and the team d...

16/07/2026

Inside Gravity Media's Effort To Power the 154th Open Championship Production

With 42 RF cameras and high-power radio mics deployed, the spectrum environment ...

16/07/2026

Baby Audio release SubCulture

A new benchmark in bass enhancement Described as a new benchmark in bass enhancement , Baby Audio's latest release has been designed to augment the lo...

16/07/2026

Other Worlds Evolved from Zero G

Popular library rebuilt in new Orbita Engine Other Worlds Evolved is the latest of Zero G's sample libraries to be treated to a ground-up rebuild using ...

16/07/2026

Native Instruments announce Super*Saw

Created in collaboration with A. G. Cook The newest addition to Native Instruments' software collection introduces a new synth created by A. G. Cook, a ...

16/07/2026

NITV and SBS bring Australians to the heart of Garma

NITV and SBS bring Australians to the heart of Garma 16 July, 2026 Media releases The Garma Festival returns from 31 July-3 August, with NITV and SBS deliv...

16/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz supplies conformance test systems to Marquistech for India's first GCF RTO and PTCRB ATL lab

Rohde & Schwarz supplies conformance test systems to Marquistech for India's...

16/07/2026

The Gauge: Poland | June 2026

June brought stabilization to the television market. Poles spent an average of 3 hours and 36 minutes a day in front of their TV screens exactly the same as i...

16/07/2026

New studio monitoring leads Glensound's 60th year line-up...

Glensound returns to IBC with a major new addition to its intelligent loudspeaker range, the Greater Divine Supernal studio monitor, alongside recent developmen...

16/07/2026

Complete spectrum of innovation from British exhibitors a...

33 leading exhibitors are taking part in the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions and linked locations across IBC2026 (Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September)...

16/07/2026

Hitomi Broadcast to showcase HDR colour verification and...

Hitomi Broadcast will introduce Spectra, a new HDR colour verification solution measured in picture, not using VPID, at IBC2026 (Hall 10, Stand A40). Expanding ...

16/07/2026

SMPTE Kicks Off 110th Anniversary Campaign

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Cox Media Group Taps Waymark for AI Ad Creation Tools

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Parks: Cable Broadband Sub Losses Slow Down

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

CatchLight, Sony Launch Initiative to Help Local Newsrooms

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

XR Launches XR ONE Ad Ops Platform

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions Partner to Provide...

Zixi, a leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) today announced a strategic new integration to deliver ...

16/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Cameras Capture Immersive Flight for New Cirrus App

Blackmagic Design Cameras Capture Immersive Flight for New Cirrus App Brie Clayton July 15, 2026 0 Comments Leader in Personal Aviation taps URSA Cin...

16/07/2026

XenData Announces LTO Archive Appliances with both File and S3 Object Storage Interfaces

XenData Announces LTO Archive Appliances with both File and S3 Object Storage In...

16/07/2026

RTW Network Display

Modern broadcast facilities are no longer confined to a single control room. Production teams are spread across multiple workstations, machine rooms, studios, c...

16/07/2026

Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results Via Webcast

Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2026 F...

16/07/2026

More interfaces now compatible with Focusrite Control 2

More interfaces now compatible with Focusrite Control 2 Your Focusrite interface might now be compatible with a public beta support of Focusrite Control 2. If...

16/07/2026

Sharpen the Sword, Skip the Downloads - Onimusha: Way of the Sword' Is Coming to GeForce NOW

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is coming to GeForce NOW at launch, with the playable...

16/07/2026

FIFA World Cup semi-finals deliver whopper audiences as RT Player surpasses 21 million streams across the tournament to date

Together the semi-finals had a combined reach of 1.98 million unique individuals...

15/07/2026

Inside DAZNs Multi-Market World Cup Effort With CTO Sandeep Tiku

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a big deal for DAZN, which has distribution rights in three markets: Italy, Spain, and Japan. Each requires a different editorial app...

15/07/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Qumulo's Chris Horn on Powering Global Media Workflows Across Edge, Core, and Cloud

As sports-media organizations manage rapidly growing content libraries and incre...

15/07/2026

FIFA World Cup 2026: Inside the HBS Non-Live London Production Hub

HBS director of digital Johannes Franken talks SVG Europe through the operation built to serve FIFA World Cup 2026 rights holders remotely from Stratford, east ...

15/07/2026

IBC2026 to Spotlight AI, Live Sports Production, Creator Economy, and Trust in Media

IBC has unveiled the conference program for IBC2026, with this year's event ...

15/07/2026

Vanessa Paradis Tour Adopts Sennheiser Spectera Wireless Ecosystem for 2026 Production

Software-defined wideband RF platform supports 96-kHz monitoring, streamlined fr...

15/07/2026

Telos Alliance Integrates AudioShake Source Separation Into Minnetonka AudioTools Server

New AI-powered module enables broadcasters and content owners to extract dialogu...

15/07/2026

AIMS Schedules Second IPMX Product Certification Event for August

Weeklong gathering at EBU headquarters will test new IPMX capabilities and expand certified product ecosystem...