Misti Galvan is a movement artist and educator living in San Marcos, Texas. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in choreography from Wilson College, and a BFA in Dance & BA in English from Texas State University. She is also a certified Yoga Teacher, RYT 500, responsible for implementing a Yoga Teacher Training and Certification program in the Tx State Dance Division.
Her classical dance background includes influences from the New York and Chicago regions. As an educator, she is invested in holistic pedagogy and somatic approaches for healthy technique. Also passionate about arts education and integration, as well as playful strategies for learning, Misti has been instrumental in creating, developing, and collaborating with several projects in the San Marcos community. She developed and teaches a workshop entitled: Learning Through Movement for teachers and soon to be educators. This workshop focuses on incorporating movement in to the classroom to aid teachers and support academic curriculum and concepts. This educational effort is part of Misti’s working relationship with Creation in Motion (CIM) and its mission to expand dance education. She was invited by CIM to travel to Trinidad in October 2017 to continue this project as global outreach.
Galvan's skillset also includes mentoring college students in teaching dance as evidenced most recently through two community programs: A Bailar! offering dance classes to marginalized populations at the San Marcos Public Library, and WellnessDance, a new and innovative intergenerational research program focused on the interaction between undergraduate dance majors and mature persons to enjoy dancing together and charting the effects on empathy and well-being.
Prior to her work in Texas, Misti was the Artistic Director of Ardmore Contemporary Dance Company, a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing professional dance in Southern Oklahoma through performances, outreach projects, educational residencies, and community work. ACD was awarded a Community Arts Program Grant and an Arts in Alternative Education Grant by the Oklahoma Arts Council.