Michelle Balsamo began dancing at three years old. She danced competitively until the age of eighteen and studied ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, hip-hop and contemporary. From the age of eighteen and on she has been teaching and choreographing pieces for competitive dancers. Her work has been awarded many 1st places at national competitions, as well as choreography awards. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2017 with a Bachelors of Art in dance. She studied modern techniques, ballet, West African, jazz, hip-hop and improvisation under the Columbia faculty. Through Columbia’s Repertoire Performance Workshop Michelle had the opportunity to work with and perform the choreography of Carrie Hanson, Thomas DeFrantz, and Vershawn Ward. She has also performed the works of Gil Mata, Cameron Mathe, Alvin Ramirez, Matt Pilalis, Julian Carmolinga, and Dionna Pridgeon at the Carnival Choreographer’s Ball in Chicago. She hopes to continue training, teaching, and performing in all different styles and work with new artists and students in the future.