Yusha-Marie Sorzano

Yusha-Marie Sorzano is originally from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She received her primary training at New World School of the Arts, Thomas Armour Youth Ballet, and The Dance Theater of Harlem. She is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and was invited to join Ailey II in her junior year. She later became a member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where she performed principal roles in works by noted choreographers such as Ulysses Dove, Maurice Béjart, Hofesh Shechter, Kyle Abraham, and Mauro Bigonzetti. 

Ms. Sorzano has also danced with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Morphoses, TU Dance, BODYTRAFFIC, and Camille A. Brown and Dancers. She has performed as a guest artist with Benjamin Millepied's LA Dance Project and has performed alongside recording artists Wynton Marsalis, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Rihanna. Her theater, television, and film credits include appearing as a guest artist on Dancing with the Stars, as a principal dancer in Chicago's acclaimed Goodman Theater's "Crowns" and in the independent film "You, Me & The Circus." 

As a dance educator, Ms. Sorzano teaches nationally and internationally and has taught in esteemed educational institutions and festivals such as The Ailey School, Lines Ballet/Dominican Universities BFA Program, Contemporary Choreographers’ Collective, New World School of the Arts, The Windward School, Brasil’s Mostra Danca, and Italy’s Danzainfiera. Ms. Sorzano’s efforts have led her to extraordinary programs such as, Francisco Gella Dance Works, where she acts as an Associate Director; and NYC’s Joffrey Ballet School, where she is a master faculty member. In addition, she frequently serves as an adjudicator for National Organizations in the U.S. that support the arts. 

As a choreographer, Ms. Sorzano has created works for Salt Lake City’s New Century Dance Project, The Joffrey Ballet School’s New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas programs, Los Angeles’s Windward School, and South Florida’s Norland Middle School. Ms. Sorzano was a part of the creative team for NBC’S “Jesus Christ Superstar,” acting as a movement consultant to John Legend and curating promotional material for the live event. She was commissioned by the Santa Barbara Dance Theater to create a new work, scheduled to premiere in January of 2019, and has been a guest choreographer in Robert Battle's New Directions Choreography Lab at The Ailey School.