Bio
Taíno AfroBorikua and award-winning choreographer Mar Parrilla is the founding Artistic Director of Danza Orgánica (DO). A proud mother, interdisciplinary movement artist, educator, and community organizer, Mar’s work is deeply rooted in liberation in all its forms, with a focus on antiracism, antipatriarchy, and decolonial practices.
After earning a BA in Languages (Italian, French) from the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Mar moved to New York City, where she completed a Master's degree in Dance Education at New York University. Now based in Boston, she has received numerous honors, including awards from the BARR Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Boston Foundation. She is a recipient of the Brother Thomas Fellowship and the Outstanding Community Arts Collaboration Award from the Arts/Learning Organization.
Mar is the founder of the Dance for Social Justice™ program and the founding producer of We Create!, an acclaimed annual Boston-based festival uplifting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists. She is also a Luminary Artist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where she continues to collaborate across artistic platforms. In 2018, Danza Orgánica received a Creative Development Residency at Jacob’s Pillow, where the company performed at the Inside/Out Festival. This partnership continues today through the Dance for Social Justice™ program.
Since 2018, Danza Orgánica has worked closely with members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe through a multiyear collaboration with the Aquinnah Cultural Center to develop and present Âs Nupumukômun. The company also maintains an ongoing cultural exchange with Puerto Rico-based artists through Proyecto Melaza, a project that investigates the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States.
Mar has been teaching since 1998, with experience in New York and Boston public schools and higher education institutions such as Boston University, SUNY Stony Brook, Wesleyan University, Roxbury Community College, and Emerson College. Her pedagogy centers on Decolonizing Practices, which she integrates into her Dance for Social Justice™ curriculum.
Her production history includes company concerts since 2007, co-productions at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the award-winning We Create! Festival (est. 2014).
Mar is fluent in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and Italian, and is currently learning her Taíno Arawak Indigenous language. She descends from a lineage of artists, healers, herbalists, farmers, scientists, writers, and some of the most loving and joyful people she has ever known.
Short Bio
Mar Parrilla is a Taíno AfroBorikua and award-winning choreographer, educator, and community organizer. She is the founding Artistic Director of Danza Orgánica, a Boston-based dance theater company rooted in liberation, antiracism, antipatriarchy, and decolonial practices. A proud mother and interdisciplinary artist, Mar founded the Dance for Social Justice™ program and the annual We Create! Festival. Her work has been recognized by the BARR Foundation, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Boston Foundation, among others. Mar is also a Luminary Artist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and has led multiyear collaborations with the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe and Puerto Rico-based artists through Proyecto Melaza. She has taught since 1998 in K–12 and higher education, integrating decolonial approaches into her pedagogy. Fluent in five languages, she is currently learning her Taíno Arawak language and proudly honors her lineage of artists, healers, and visionaries.
Mar's Artist Statement
Soy descendant of Taíno Arawak from the Americas y Caribe by way of Borikén; of West African people who were forcibly displaced to the Caribe, and of mestizaje from Spanish and Portuguese people. I identify as AfroTaíno Borikua. I am Queer. I strive for LIBERATION in all its forms. I am a guest in Massachusetts, the unceded and occupied territory of the Massachusett, Nipmuc, and Wampanoag tribes.
My work explores the imprint of colonizing systems of oppression in our being. I see Art as a liberating lover. My relationship with dance is based on risk-taking, self-discovery, and spontaneity. I am freest when my body can sing through movement. In my creative practice, I am intrigued by the embodiment of my experiences and their outward manifestation. I’m equally intrigued by the collectivity of movement, and its power to examine old paradigms, inspire radical realities, and create new frameworks. My approach entails extensive research, intentional collaborations, and a movement practice that focuses on process rather than product.
Choreographic Highlights
Massachusetts- Aquinnah Cultural Center (Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard), Institute of Contemporary Art, Bessie Schonberg Choreographic Residency at The Yard, Jacob's Pillow Dance Inside/Out Festival, Jacob's Pillow's Creative Development Residency, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Harvard School of Law, Museum of Fine Arts, Mobius, The Dance Complex, John Hancock Hall, Green Street Studios, Jose Mateo Ballet's Dance for World Community Festival, Cambridge River Arts Festival, Figment, Boston Center for the Arts, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Mills Gallery (through Boston Center for the Arts), Wellesley College, Roxbury Community College, Spontaneous Celebrations, Third Life Studio, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Hibernian Hall, and the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
NYC- The Brooklyn Museum, Judson Church (through Movement Research), Gibney Dance, Dixon Place, Mark Morris Dance Center, Cloud City, The Far Space, The Flea, SOB's, Spoke the Hub, the State University of NY, Djoniba Dance and Drum Center, Dance New Amsterdam, NYC Dance Parade, University Settlement, HERE, Clemente Soto Velez, Dance Theater Workshop (through Movement Research), and Downtown Arts.
Additionally, mar has performed in venues such as: WaterFire Arts Center (Rhode Island), Alvin Ailey, Symphony Space, DNA, New York University, Long Island University, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Philadelphia), the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and Andanza, in Puerto Rico.