Marina Garbalena is a dancer and choreographer with a background in arts education and nonprofit administration. She is a lifelong creative and grew up loving music, playing soccer, and riding her bike around the streets of La Chaveña in Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua. In her formative years at Academia and Centro Municipal de las Artes, she found a supportive community that inspired her to pursue dance, and witnessed first hand the power of arts as a conduit for connection, community, and cultural preservation.
Marina has collaborated with National Dance Institute, and Pushing Progress Contemporary Dance in New York City, Danza Total in Mexico City, El Paso Opera, UTEP Department of Theater & Dance, and Eva Maria Dance. She served as teaching, administrative and artistic staff, as well as Interim Co-Artistic Director with Kids Excel El Paso, a non-profit arts education organization. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance from University of Texas in El Paso, and is a founding member of Mountain Movement Dance Company, with which she has had the opportunity to choreograph and perform in Texas, New Mexico, Mexico, and the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.