Maria Caruso
Maria Caruso (born October 12, 1980) is a Pittsburgh native dancer, choreographer, academic, social activist, fitness and wellness practitioner, and entrepreneur whose enterprise encompasses brand models focused in the arts, education, entertainment, and wellbeing sectors. Caruso's multifaceted conglomerate comprises five performance companies, a dance conservatory, a fitness program, and a dance movement therapy system, all under the auspices of the Bodiography brand. The alliance of organizations under her leadership include a production syndicate titled M-Train Productions, a fully functional multipurpose dance studio and performance space in her Movement Factory, the dance conservatory Bodiography Center for Movement , an affiliation with an academic institution of higher learning at La Roche University where she directs creative and innovative initiatives in the Performing Arts Department, and a publication known as the Arts Inclusive. All the encompassing entities led by Ms. Caruso's vision are known for their commitment to health and wellness in the arts and their championing of positive change in communities regionally and globally. Personal life. Caruso is married to Dr. Alan J. Russell. Dr. Russell is the Vice President of Biologics at Amgen. Caruso has five step-children. Early Training. Maria Caruso grew up in Rural Valley , PA, outside of Pittsburgh. Caruso's mother and father split when she was young, and dance soon became a therapeutic outlet for her. Luba Takamoto was Maria's first influential teacher. Working with Takamoto instilled the academic value of dance in Caruso. Maria then studied at Sue Hewitt Dance Studio in Indiana, PA, and Hewitt became another of Maria's early mentors. Caruso graduated high school early, at age 16, and continued her education as a BFA student in Florida State University’s dance program. While studying at Florida State, Maria began to mature and no longer fit the traditional  ballet body stereotypes. Anjali Austin, one of Maria's professors, became her mentor at FSU and helped her through this period. This inspired Caruso to later open a school that would serve the needs of dancers with non-stereotypical ballet bodies. After graduation from FSU and returning to Pittsburgh, Caruso earned a master's degree in professional leadership from Carlow University. Dance performance career. Caruso's performance career includes work with artists such as Anjali Austin, Ilana Suprun Clyde, Ze’eva Cohen, Lynne Taylor Corbett, Johan Renvall, and James Martin. Upon retirement from dancing with Bodiography in 2015, Caruso traveled the  world with her solo work and continues to do so to date. In 2017, she created her first full-length mixed genre solo concert, titled "Phoenix Rising", where she worked to incorporate genres of dance that she had never performed, such as hip-hop, lindy hop, and art installation, along with modern, contemporary, and ballet works. In 2018, Caruso was honored to receive a license from Martha Graham Resources to perform Martha Graham’s iconic Lamentation solo, for which she has continued to perform on select solo tours. This same year, she also premiered another solo show, titled Metamorphosis, at  the Karmiel Dance Festival in Israel. The solo show toured 4 continents between 2018-2020 with plans for a final performance stop in the USA the On February 29, 2020. Caruso anticipated performing one last time in her home of Pittsburgh, preparing to announce the off-Broadway run of her 80’s ballet, Rearview Mirror, her Movement Factory and many developments in her enterprise. Performing for a sold out audience to critical acclaim, she booked multiple performances in Brazil, the UK, and Italy the next day and set off on tour until it was disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic . During the pandemic, Caruso’s unrelenting work ethic and commitment to adapting, won her an invitation to present both her 80’s rock ballet, Rearview Mirror, and her solo show, Metamorphosis, simultaneously. She was the first to open live dance in New York City’s commercial Broadway sector post-pandemic, and she was the first dancer in history to star in two shows at two different theaters on the same night. Performing in both shows for nine weeks led to and extended run of Metamorphosis off-Broadway. The show closed at the Actor’s Temple Theatre on October 31, 2021 , and the critical acclaim supported Caruso’s transition to a global tour. Broadway. Caruso’s Broadway credits include an 80’s dance revue, LINK Rearview Mirror, and her solo show, Metamorphosis. Acting career. Caruso had her acting debut in 2020 playing a leading role, Connie Scuccifuffio, in Anthony J Wilkinson's My Big Gay Italian Midlife Crisis, directed by Sonia Blangiardo. Bodiography. Caruso founded Bodiography in New York City in 2000. The company was relocated to the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill at the historic site of Gene Kelly’s dance studio in 2001 and is home to a professional  contemporary ballet company ballet company, a sister company in Charlotte, North Carolina, a company of retired artists in BCB3, a pre-professional company in BCB2, fitness and wellness programs, a dance injury clinic in partnership with UPMC Health Plan, and a dance conservatory with an accredited college preparatory program in collaboration with La Roche University. Bodiography Contemporary Ballet, now called Maria Caruso’s Bodiography, presents a multi-genre movement vocabulary including modern, jazz, and pedestrian movement solidly supported by the classical ballet technique. The teaching and performing artists of Bodiography engage in a full performance and tour season while maintaining  educational outreach engagements at Bodiography Center for Movement, La Roche University, and a variety of public and private schools and arts education institutions in the region. All artists in the company are also trained facilitators of Caruso’s fitness and movement therapy systems. Caruso's creation of the Bodiography® Fitness and Strength Training System is based on a system of compounding exercises with the utilization of multiple props in a mat based class. The program has found great success particularly on the east coast of the United States. With over 100 trained instructors in a variety of fitness and  dance environments, the fitness system assists in spreading the company's over arching message of dance being an inclusive art form. Beyond the national reach of the program, the Bodiography® Fitness and Strength Training System classes can be found in many places in the Pittsburgh area, and Caruso’s fitness video is available to the world having launched in June 2019. The creation of the Bodiography® Dance Movement Therapy System is based on the extraction of human emotion as a means of creative expression. Through the use of a choreographic algorithm, Caruso's system works to create movement  structures and phrases based on the thoughts, feelings, and ideas of individuals with shared experiences. The movement therapy system is currently being utilized in a variety of hospitals, schools, and behavioral health programs across the US through certified facilitators. Bodiography Leadership Entrepreneurship. In 2020, Caruso announced her expansion into several new facets of business including her presenting and publishing branches and the development of her new performing arts facility, The Movement Factory, in the North Shore of Pittsburgh, PA. The Movement Factory, opening in February 2022, will offer a 175 seat theater, 4 studios, classrooms, offices, and a home to  M-Train Productions and The Arts Inclusive. M-Train Productions is the presenting arm focused on commercial and industrial works. The Arts Inclusive, the publishing arm, is Caruso’s online magazine focused on insights, previews, and reviews of the world’s best arts presentations, and slated to begin circulation in 2022. Choreography by Caruso. Commissioned Works by Noted Works Writing. Bodiography Dance Movement Therapy System: The Healing Power of Dance and Movement for EveryBODY (2013) The profound results of Caruso's research, supported by Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield in 2014, catapulted the success of the Dance Movement Therapy program  and provided a platform for training more dance movement therapy facilitators in the Pittsburgh region and beyond. Bodiography Fitness and Strength Training System: The Ballet Workout for Every-BODY (2012)