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Marcel Santiago Marcelino

Instructor, Legacy Dance Company

Marcel is a queer Dominican and Puerto Rican dance artist born in Boston, MA. Marcel lived part of his childhood in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico before returning to the states. In Puerto Rico under the instruction of his father Jorge Santiago Arce and cultural pioneer Modesto Cepeda Brenes, Marcel began his life-long relationship with Bomba, one of the first Afro-Indigenous music and dance forms of the Archipelago. His movement practice is heavily influenced by the language of Bomba as well as other Caribbean, contemporary and improvisational dance methods. He is a Director’s Scholarship recipient and 2021 BFA graduate of the University of the Arts School of Dance, Dir. Donna Faye Burchfield. During his undergraduate studies, Marcel spent part of a semester studying classical and contemporary dance at the Conservatorio Superior de Danza "María de Ávila" in Madrid, Spain. During his time at UArts, he collaborated and performed in work by Lauren Bakst at the Camping Dance Festival in Paris and Lyon, France. He has also had the pleasure of performing works by Katie Swords-Thurman, and Juel Lane. In 2021 Marcel joined Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (Philadelphia) and danced with the company as an apprentice for one season. In 2022, he returned to Boston and joined Urbanity Dance as a company dancer and faculty member. He also currently dances with companies Danza Orgánica, under the direction of Mar Yael Parrilla, as well as BeHeard.World, directed by Anna Myer. Recently, Marcel and fellow collaborator Anito Gavino were recipients of the MAPfund Grant to research and explore historical and cultural bridges between the Philippines and Puerto Rico, two archipelago’s with strongly tethered colonial histories.

Marcel Santiago Marcelino
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