Melissa Melpignano

Melissa Melpignano is an Assistant Professor and Director of Dance in the Department of Theatre & Dance at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). She holds a Ph.D. in Culture & Performance from UCLA and serves as Program Coordinator for the Dance Program. Her interdisciplinary research explores dance’s role in addressing regional and global challenges, including border conflicts, environmental conservation, and healthcare equity. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and is a recipient of the Selma Jeanne Cohen Prize in Dance Aesthetics.

• Affiliations: UTEP Edge Fellow (2022-2024), Board Member of the Dance Studies Association, Co-founder of Somos Agua/We Are Water

Her work interrogates 'livability' in contested spaces like the Mexico-U.S. border and Palestine-Israel, focusing on choreographic theorizations of colonialism and environmental justice. Recent projects include site-specific performances addressing water scarcity (e.g., Mapping the Rio) and movement-based healthcare training with Texas Tech University Health Science Center.

• Key Awards: Selma Jeanne Cohen Prize, Wechter Excellence Fund Award

As a project leader, she oversees the NEA-funded Somatics and Movement for Healthcare initiative and collaborates on interdisciplinary clusters like UTEP’s One Water Group. Her scholarly outputs span dance aesthetics, ballet historiography, and transnational performance studies.