Iowa native Kristin Marrs is a choreographer, performer, and teacher. Marrs explores the evolution of ballet as a technique and narrative form in her choreography, which she has presented in concert and site-specific venues around the United States. Her choreography was recently featured in the premiere of Karkinos, an opera by composer Jacob Bancks presented by the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with the Living Proof Exhibit, an organization that provides arts experiences for cancer survivors. Prior to finding her home as a liberal arts educator, Marrs performed as a company member of Columbus Dance Theatre, Ballet Quad Cities, Northern Ballet Theatre, Arova Contemporary Ballet, Paradise Ballet Theatre, Opera Columbus, and Images of Dance (London). She continues to perform as an independent artist. Marrs trained at SUNY Purchase and London Studio Centre and holds an MFA in dance from the University of Iowa. She previously taught ballet technique at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, Columbus Dance Theatre Intensive Training Program, University of Iowa Youth Ballet, and as a guest artist at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music (China). She is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher, and her ballet pedagogy is influenced by somatic practices. Her article "Searching for the Yet Unknown: Dancing and Writing as Incantatory Practices," collaboratively written with Kate Mattingly, was recently published in the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice. She and Mattingly will present their research on how ballet pedagogies and university environments can empower female-identifying students and faculty at the Collaboration in Higher Education: TLN Take5 Symposium in April.