Marissa Alma Nick was born in Miami, Florida, and lives and works in Miami, Florida. Nick received a high school degree from the New World School of the Arts (2003) and received her BFA in Dance-Performance from the University of South Florida (2007), as well as continuing her education through the Creative Capital Education Program (2016 - 2019). Her practices include choreographing and directing for live and immersive dance theater, writing books and screenplays, and directing screen-dances (specific dance-for-camera projects). In 2015, Marissa established her own dance performance company, Alma Dance Theater, which has produced four full-length live and immersive shows in Miami, Florida: “Flowers” (2015), “Cask”(2018), “Rebel In Venus”(2020), and most recent, her adaptation of “Giselle” (2022); as well as collaborating with notable Miami, Florida venues like Showfields Miami (2021), Faena (2019 - 2022), Vizcaya (2019), and Perez Art Museum Miami (2017 - 2023). Marissa was also the original founding Artistic Director of Screendance Miami, under the direction of Mary Luft and Tigertail Miami (2014 - 2016), and she is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami's, Musical Theater Department (2020 - 2021); as well as a guest choreographer at Nova University (2018, 2019), and a guest instructor at Miami Dade Community College (2015 - 2017). As of 2023, REBEL IN VENUS is Marissa’s first published novel.