bio.

Mission

To encourage empathy, courageous vulnerability, community building through process-focused performances and workshops.

Ko founded Five Feet Dance in 2016 in hopes of “making dance/sharing stories/creating community”. The company works with an ever-growing list of collaborators who invest their time in a reflective, thorough, investigative process of the chosen topic that encourages empathy and courageous vulnerability.

Clarissa K. Ko

Clarissa K. Ko is an emerging artist interested in dance, theatre, story-telling, poetry, community, and the overall human experience. She received her BA in Performing Arts and Social Justice from the University of San Francisco and her MSEd in Learning Design and Technology from Purdue University. Trained in multiple styles of movement, she aims to connect to audiences and communities through relatable and genuine processes and subject matters.

In addition to making work, Clarissa is a dance teacher with ODC Youth & Teen program, and HeartBeat Dance Academy. She also works freelance assisting artists administratively and with production management. Working with Amie Dowling, on her award-winning film “Separate Sentences” and other projects, Natalie Greene, Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts, and Lizz Roman and Dancers.

“I am not a breathe-and-take-it-slow type of person. I am open eyes and open ears, eager and curious. I am not an accept-and-not-question person. I am a dancer who uses movement to understand the world. I am not a student who has become jaded and closed-minded. I am multilingual and open to discourse and discussion. I am not fluent and I hope to be challenged. I am an empathetic person. I am a container and vessel to be filled.

I am a person who carries all of my identities, relationships, and experiences in every thought and action. I am an aspiring storyteller.”

Contact Clarissa here: