Alysia Ramos

  • Associate Professor of Dance
  • Chair of Dance

Areas of Study

Education

  • BA, CUNY Baccalaureate Program
  • MFA, University of Utah, 2014

Biography

Alysia Ramos is a dancer and choreographer now based in Ohio, where she serves on the dance faculty of Oberlin College. Previously, she worked as a dancer, choreographer and teaching artist in NYC for over a decade. She directed her own company the Mezclado (mixed) Movement Group which brought together an eclectic group of world dance artists from the contemporary, Latin, Afro-Caribbean and hip hop dance communities in the creation of original works from 2003-2007. She also performed with a diverse roster of companies and choreographers including Gabri Christa/Danzaisa, Nathan Trice/Rituals, INSPIRIT a dance company, Niles Ford/Urban Dance Collective, Sing Sing Rhythms, Kotchegna Drum and Dance and Samba Fogo. Additionally, Alysia apprenticed with companies Danzabierta and Danza Contemporanea de Cuba in Havana, Cuba, and traveled to Senegal where she performed with a family of Wolof griots throughout Dakar, including sharing the stage with African music legend Youssou N’dour. Alysia has been an active member in Burnt Sugar/Danz, a who’s who, of NY based choreographers who come together to perform conducted improvisation with live conducted music by the band Burnt Sugar. Continuing her interest in collaboration, recent projects have included a duet with Ghanaean artist Mustapha Braimah, a hybrid contemporary and flamenco work with flamenco artist Solange Gomes and the creation of large scale site specific immersive dance theater productions with Liz Ivkovich. Most recently, Alysia has been studying Samba and the dance of candomblé under the tutelage of master teach Jorge Alabe in Rio de Janeiro. She holds and MFA in dance from the University of Utah (2014).

Fall 2023

Samba — DANC 107
Production Project — DANC 211
Practicum in Dance — DANC 311
Collaborations: Dance, Music and Media — DANC 394
Senior Project — DANC 400
Latin American Studies Capstone — LATS 400
Honors Project — LATS 401

Spring 2024

Contemporary Dance II-Intermediate — DANC 200
Production Project — DANC 211
Dance Pedagogy — DANC 247
Contemporary Dance III - Advanced — DANC 300
Practicum in Dance — DANC 311
Senior Project — DANC 400
Senior Capstone Project — DANC 500

Notes

Cleveland Dance Festival Presents Film by Alysia Ramos

November 5, 2021

Associate Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos's dance film Becoming Oxum; My Body Remembers is being presented by the Cleveland Dance Festival. Access to the virtual dance film gallery is available through February 5th, 2022.

 

Alysia Ramos Presents Choreographic Work

June 26, 2018

Assistant Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos presented her new choreographic work Forgone Territory with Oberlin Dance Project in DanceWorks at the Cleveland Public Theater June 7-9, 2018. The work interwove text, movement and music in an examination of the shadow side of the sharing age, asking, “What is private when technology increasingly infiltrates personal lives?"  Oberlin Dance Project is a new project that brings together talented college students with local professionals and nationally established guest artists to collaborate on the creation of new works and establish professional networks. In this production, five Oberlin students joined Ramos and New York City-based guest artist Nathan Trice to create and perform the work for the professional stage. The company shared the DanceWorks evening with Cleveland-based company Marquez Dance Project

Alysia Ramos Teaches Summer Workshop, Co-creates Production

October 6, 2017

Alysia Ramos, assistant professor of dance, taught a summer workshop at Barnard College in New York.  In August, Ramos and her artistic partner Liz Ivkovich co-created a new immersive dance theater work, Those with Wings inspired by Terry Tempest Williams' memoir When Women Were Birds. The production ran for six sold-out performances and was positively reviewed in the Salt Lake Art Magazine

Alysia Ramos Performs Choreography

August 9, 2017

Assistant Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos performed her choreography Time Certainties Peace on July 25, 2017 at the World Dance Alliance Global Summit in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

Alysia Ramos Performs Duet

May 18, 2017

Assistant Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos performed her duet Time Certainties Peace at The Ohio Dance Festival on April 29, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio. This work, inspired by Paolo Coelho's text "The Good Fight" was made in collaboration with Ghanaian dancer Mustapha Braimah. Through dance and text, the work addresses the challenge of enduring in the fight for one's dreams in spite of obstacles both without and within. Oberlin Conservatory students Aliya Ultan (cello) and Patrick Graney (percussion) composed and performed musical accompaniment for the piece.

Alysia Ramos Coproduces, Directs, and Choreographs The Mists

October 29, 2015

Assistant Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos premiered The Mists, a new immersive dance theater production at Red Butte Gardens’ "Garden After Dark" in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 22-24 and 29-30.

Inspired by Marion Zimmer Bradley’s acclaimed book The Mists of Avalon, this production invited audience members to follow legendary characters—including Morgaine le Fey, King Arthur, Lady Gwenhwyfar, Lancelot, and the Lady of the Lake—on a wordless journey into the mythological land of Avalon at the sunset of its reign. Unlike conventional theater and dance productions, The Mists was an interactive story that integrated dance, theater, live music, and lighting design into the living landscape of the Garden itself. The nearly 50-person cast circulated the gardens throughout the 3-hour event performing cyclical scenes that, when witnessed by each audience member, constructed unique narratives.

Part dance theater, part haunted house, part costume party, The Mists was the first outdoor immersive dance theater production in Utah and reached approximately 1,500 audience members a night. Ramos and collaborator Liz Ivkovich coproduced, directed and choreographed with a cast of professional artists, students from The University of Utah, and high school students from Rowland Hall School.

Read more about The Mists on 15 Bytes, an online magazine about the visual arts in Utah.

News

This Week in Photos: The Mug That Keeps Giving

December 23, 2021

Dozens of handcrafted mugs of varying shapes, shades, and textures rest on tables throughout a large meeting space at First Church in Oberlin. These small, handheld items make for terrific gifts, and are traditionally sold in December. They also serve as inspiration for this week’s photo series.