It’s not easy patting your belly and rubbing your head at the same time, but Marissa Alma Nick isn’t going to let that stop her from moving forward. I met Nick two years ago on the streets of Wynwood during Art Walk. She was performing on NW 2nd Avenue between 26th and 27th Street. It was a gritty, violent performance illuminated by car headlights. She fearlessly catapulted and slammed her body against the sidewalk and buildings. She impressed me. Fast forward two years, and Nick leads her own dance theater company and is also the director of ScreenDance Miami. Since those quirky streetwise days, Nick has radically evolved into a cultural force to be experienced, and this is what she said in our latest interview.

Neil de la Flor: What’s new with Alma Dance Theater? Marissa Alma Nick: I changed the name of my company from DanzArte to Alma Dance Theater last year. I noticed that DanzArte (as a company name) just wasn’t sticking with the audience, they remembered the work and the shows, but not the name of the company. So I decided it was time for a new name: I chose to use my middle name because that was the name of my great-grandmother (whose spirit has enchanted me with inspiration my whole life), and the name also means “soul” in Spanish… so it felt like the perfect fit. The name change has been a success. Our first performance under ALDT took place last October in the Miami Design District, where we premiered the piece “Daydreaming With Jean.” Since then, we have had an evening-length show, “Only Ladies Sing the Blues,” performed at the Pinecrest Gardens Banyan Bowl amphitheater. We have another performance right around the corner.

Marissa Alma Nick. Photo by Kerry Mclaney

ND: It’s not easy running a company. What’s been your biggest challenge so far? ​ MN: The biggest challenge has been wearing both hats: one as administrator and one as choreographer. It’s like learning to pat your belly while rubbing your head at the same time… but once you get going, it falls right into motion.

ND: Biggest reward? ​ MN: Hands down, the dancers. I always say that like painters needs their paint, choreographers needs their dancers. At the moment I’m only working with women – I don’t know if it will always be that way – but I’m definitely on a “girl power” kick. So these young women, they are just remarkably intelligent and talented – and watching them move and think and perform – it’s like waking up to the perfect Christmas at every rehearsal. Even during our epic “late night rehearsals,” which will run to midnight, these women give it all they got, every single time. They are so committed to the art of dance, theater and performance. It is truly an honor to be surrounded by such artists. They are my second family.

ND: You wear many scarves. Recently, you collaborated with Tigertail on the second annual ScreenDance Miami film festival. Did the festival meet your expectations? MN: Mary Luft approached me about directing the festival two years ago, so I’ve directed this festival since its inception. To take a moment and see how much we have grown in just the second year is both inspiring and motivating for me. This year we moved our opening night to PAMM, we had international based screenings, we screened new experimental screendance installations, and our audience network grew and expanded way beyond “the Miami dance community.” We had a great year – there is no doubt about that. And honestly (having attended some of the best screendance festivals out there – Cinedans, NY Dance on Camera Festival, Dance Camera West), I have set a pretty high bar for what ScreenDance Miami will continue to grow to be. For our second year up at bat, I’d say we have certainly made it to second base, and that is something I am damn proud of.

ND: What were some of the highlights? ​​ MN: Definitely our opening night at PAMM. The work that we screened from Cinedans in Amsterdam was breathtaking, not to mention being able to stand on the stage of an international museum that is such beacon of culture. That was surreal and most satisfying in every way any artist can imagine. Also, Mary Luft – you know, meeting this woman I had only been able to read about, then seeing her attending my shows, and then having her ask me to direct one of her projects has felt as surreal as standing on the stage of PAMM. Every day she pushes me to try harder, to think deeper, to look closer, to take more risks and to see the bigger picture. I don’t know if she realizes this, but working with her has been life-changing. She has become one of the main voices inside my head telling me to never give up, never stop trying and to reach far beyond the stars. And I pray that voice never fades away.

Marissa Alma Nick. Photo by Jeffrey Salter

​ ND: Any news about the next ScreenDance? ​ MN: All I am able to say for now is that we are on for year three. So artists, get those screendances into production and ready for submission!

ND: On a personal/professional level, I’ve witnessed a major evolution in your work and your outreach to the community. How do you see yourself now verses what you were verses what you hope to become?

I moved back to Miami from Los Angeles three years ago. I moved because I was going through a break-up, I wanted to leave the LA dance scene, and I wanted to establish my dance company in my home city. I have had one dream since I was in seventh grade at Norland Middle School and I choreographed my first dance to Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love.” I knew I wanted my own dance company, so I could choreograph until the day I died. But if I look at myself now versus when I first moved back, it’s interesting because it’s hard for me to see the evolution since I am living it and creating it. Though it does feel different. And I feel different.

As an artist, my work will always continue to evolve and change, but I do hope, in that regard, that I become more vulnerable, brave and daring in the risks I will take from here on out. As a choreographer, I want to move my audience, I want to connect with them, I want to continue to find ways to make dance an undeniable art form to experience. And as far as Miami goes, well this is it. This is home. I will always travel, and my company will tour the world, but I believe in Miami. I have witnessed this city change, and I have changed with it. So the hope I have as a choreographer based in Miami is that my work, and my company, will be one of those reasons the city has become the new city of arts and culture in the U.S.

Marissa Alma Nick. Photo by Christin Paige Minnotte

ND: What’s next for Marissa Alma Nick and Alma Dance Theater? ​ MN: I am heading to Amsterdam the second week of March to attend the Cinedans Festival. Then as soon as I get back, I’ll be teaching at the MDC Air Dance Conference, and I just wrapped a choreographic residency at Nova University. I will be working collaboratively this year on various projects with some visual artists: Adler Guerrier, Barron Sherer, Magnus Sodamin and Christina Pettersson. I am also, over the course of this year, beginning the initial creation stages for my solo project, “Lessons in Therapy: #17 – Forgive Yourself.” I’ll be performing at the Wolfsonian Museum later this year and, of course, ScreenDance Miami comes up in January of 2016. ​​

This Saturday, March 7th at 7:30 p.m., Alma Dance Theater will present an original work created in reaction to “TRANSPOSITION: Over Many Miles” (an outdoor installation by artist Paula Crown), at 39th St. and NE 1st Ave. in the Miami Design District. The performance is free and open to the public. There will be an open bar at 7:30 p.m., and the performance is scheduled between 8-9 p.m.