Marsea Marquis is a passionate artist offering community classes and performance art in Santa Cruz, CA and beyond. Her work in dance has contributed to a foundation for the advancement of cultural art here in the US, through her Dance of Brazil community and network she founded in Santa Cruz, CA in 1995. Teaching Brazilian dance for thirty years, as well as her dedicated study beforehand to dance originating from Trinidad, Tobago, Puerto Rico, Cuba, many African regions and beyond, Marsea has led and entertained groups of adults and children with love and devotion through the decades.

Marsea remains focused on learning, sharing and celebrating music and dance traditions nascent to the diasporic communities that she is influenced by. She stays committed to bringing her teachers for master workshops and performances in order to remain a student herself. Dedicating to this exchange, she helps foster awareness and the opportunity to learn more about the rich history from which these dance and music expressions originate. These encounters enhance community building and help support and preserve traditional art forms and their legacies. Marsea is a believer that dance, music and art, brings us inspiration, fuels self-esteem and fosters hope. This hope in turn invites the opening of an evocative gateway, which enlivens our spirits and leads us to a more embodied connection to ourselves, one another and the larger global community. Something worth celebrating!