About

Elisa Clark (she/her) is from the Washington, DC area, and received her early training from the Academy of the Maryland Youth Ballet, studying with Tensia Fonseca, Michelle Lees, Eric Hampton and Rhodie Jorgenson, amongst others. She received her BFA from the Juilliard School, under the direction of the late Benjamin Harkarvy. While in school she had the opportunity to work with and perform with the Nederlands Dans Theater as part of the Lincoln Center Festival.

Following graduation, Ms. Clark danced with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, as well as the Peridance Ensemble, directed by Igal Perry, and Buglisi Dance Theater, directed by Jacqulyn Buglisi, in addition to being a founding member of Robert Battle’s Battleworks Dance Company. At Battleworks, she also served as the Company Manager, and administrative and creative assistant to Mr. Battle. Ms. Clark assisted Mr. Battle with some of his earliest commissions, including Juba and Love Stories for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Mass for the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, and Feast for Introdans. She has also staged and coached existing work of Mr. Battle’s at the American Dance Festival, Brown University, Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp, The Fieldston School, The Juilliard School, the Fordham University students at the Ailey School, the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA), Introdans, UMASS, Houston Met, New World School for the Arts, Barnard College, Plymouth State University, Keene State University, George Mason University, Towson University, University of the Arts, Center of Creative Arts (COCA), Dallas Youth Repertory Project, the DASH Academy, Steps Scholarship Ensemble, and Ailey II, amongst other schools and companies, over the past 20 years.

In 2006, Ms. Clark joined the Mark Morris Dance Group as a full-time company member, after performing in several productions as a supplementary dancer beginning in 2005. In addition to teaching company class, and at the Mark Morris Dance Center, she has taught Master Classes at the University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana, the Kennedy Center, George Mason University, University of Washington, University of Arizona, and other schools and community centers on behalf of the company. In 2008 the company nominated her for the Princess Grace Award, in which she won an honorarium for Modern Dance. In 2011 she left her full-time position with the company, only to return to guest perform from frequently, as well as stage Mr. Morris’ works, teach and help run the Student Company, and assist with auditions for various Mark Morris productions. In 2019, she participated in a unique project where Mr. Morris directed 3 plays by Samuel Beckett, for the Happy Days Festival in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. She, alongside 3 other veteran MMDG artists, acted in those plays, as well as served as Mr. Morris’ assistant for the entire endeavor. She continues to be involved with the company both on and off the stage.

In addition to being repetiteur and rehearsal director for Mr. Battle and Mr. Morris, she has assisted choreographers Carolyn Adams, Adam Hougland, and Igal Perry at NYSSSA, Juilliard and Ailey II respectively. Ms. Clark has also taught independently across the nation and worldwide, and was an annual Guest Artist for Georgetown University from 2004-2006. She has been on the faculty of the American Dance Festival, both for the summer festival and the winter intensive, as well as traveled to adjudicate ADF scholarship auditions.  As part of her work with the American Dance Legacy Institute, now known as Dancing Legacy, directed by Carolyn Adams, she has staged the Parsons Etude, choreographed by David Parsons, in Montreal at Ballet Divertimento, where she also taught technique classes, and choreographed her own work in both 2004 and 2005. Through her work with the Parsons Etude she has been involved as a teaching artist for the Joyce Theater Education Department, working in schools in NYC and Connecticut, as well as leading workshops offered at the Joyce Soho for NYC school teachers.

In 2011, she rejoined the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, performing featured roles with Clifton Brown and Reid Bartelme. Ms. Clark has also danced for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet at Lincoln Center in productions choreographed by Mr. Morris, Ben Wright and the innovative Crystal Pite. In 2013, Ms. Clark joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, having the honor of dancing the legendary work Revelations over 100 times per year, while traveling the world six out of every twelve months!  She danced featured roles in Matthew Rushing's Odetta, as well as the coveted duet Twin Cities in Mr. Ailey's The River.  During her time with Ailey, not only was she a company teacher, but she also assisted in the creation of Mr. Battle's Awakening and was also responsible for staging Mr. Battle's Mass and the restaging of Juba. Since her final bow as an AAADT dancer, she has found herself frequently back in the studios with the company, staging, rehearsing and coaching many of Battle’s works, including assisting in the creation of For Four.

She was on the faculty and Advisory Board of the New Jersey Dance Theater from 2001-2014. From 2002-2006 she was also on an Advisory Panel for Capezio, where she helped test out new footwear and products. Ms. Clark is a member of AGMA, and is a certified Life Coach, frequently leading seminars, empowering artists to navigate their respective field.   Since 2017, she has held adjunct faculty positions at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Marymount Manhattan College, the Ailey School/Fordham University, Princeton University, and at Bard College as the Gibney Company teaching artist, besides teaching master classes and being guest faculty at a variety of summer programs including the University of Oklahoma, the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts, and the brand new virtual program Training Pointe, where she is also an advisor. She has taught Company Class for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Mark Morris Dance Group, Ballet Hispanico and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and has an ongoing drop-in ballet class at Gibney. Finally, Ms. Clark has been a performing artist with Monica Bill Barnes & Company, touring alongside Ms. Bill Barnes in Happy Hour since 2019.