Mary Demaso (she/her)
Mary Demaso is co-founder of Dance Prism and its Artistic Director since 1982, overseeing the growth of the company from a handful of adventurous dancers performing chiefly the choreography of then Co-Director Scott Ranagan to its current configuration of approximately 30 professional dancers and apprentices performing a spectrum of works ranging from the standard classical repertoire to original narrative, neoclassical, and contemporary ballets, often incorporating the serious ballet students who audition annually for the company’s Nutcracker productions. She coordinates a touring company that for its larger productions includes 150 dancers, 25staff and crew members, and nearly 50 volunteers.
She has also taught, choreographed, and given master classes for a variety of New England ballet school and college programs, has been an adjudicator for Boston Ballet’s City Dance program, and has served on the boards of various dance and production organizations.
Concurrently with her work with Dance Prism and other performing arts entities, she was for over 25 years a member of Simmons College’s English Department, teaching classes in late 19th and 20th century American and European literature, analytical writing, and interdisciplinary comparative arts. She studied literature at Simmons College and Brown University and ballet with a range of influential teachers in Boston and New York. .